Mary Daniel, an amputee lady who went viral while hawking water in Lagos, has revealed she’s set to establish a supermarket with donations she received from within and outside Nigeria. She disclosed this on Friday while celebrating her 27th birthday at a lounge in Ikeja, Lagos. “I feel happy today,” Mary enthused about the event.
Speaking further, Mary said; “I didn’t celebrate my birthday last year. I am grateful to God for what He has done in my life. I never thought I would mark my birthday in a big way like this. People who know me before now have been calling me and making kind remarks about me. They said I have changed for good and they can hardly recognise me again.” The single mum who has amassed millions in donations also spoke on her plan to establish a supermarket.
She said; “I want to set up a supermarket where I will be selling cartons of noodles, bottled water, drinks, food stuffs and other items. “I plan to employ two of my cousins. One is based in Awka (Anambra) while the other is based in Asaba (Delta).
”They will relocate to Lagos and join me in running the supermarket. As soon as I get my own apartment, I will bring my daughter to Lagos. I hope my story will inspire people in my condition to always try to struggle to earn a living.”
According to her, a non-governmental organisation has decided to pick up the bill of prosthesis to be procured for her. “The people that will do the artificial leg came on Monday to take the measurement of my leg. They said it would be ready in one month’s time,” she said.
Nigerian actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has reacted to reports of her being in an amorous relationship with former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole.
The Nollywood veteran who is married to Captain Ekeinde, spoke in a recent interview with BBC Yoruba, saying that she is not one who likes to attend events and insisted that she has never met Oshiomhole before.
Omotola said; “People do not know that I don’t like to go out. I am either at home or at the office. I only like to go out on official purposes. I don’t know Adams Oshiomhole. I have never met him. End of the story.” Speaking further, the mother of four said that any lady who does not have a source of livelihood should not consider marriage because she is automatically preparing herself to be imprisoned in the union.
Asked if she would allow any of her children to marry at the age of 18 like she did, to which she answered; “I was at the age of consent when I got married and above all, I was mature when I met my husband. Currently, I have only one child that is 18 years old, so the question is late. He is a boy and peradventure, he says he wants to get married, I will not allow it because he does not have his own money now. One must apply wisdom or common sense in everything one does. People cannot say that because I married at 18, therefore they can also do it. The question is, ‘are you ready for marriage’? When I was at that age, I was ready. I had been working since I was 15-years-old and I had become a millionaire at the age of 18. That is a fact that a lot of people don’t know.
“I had my own money. I was not dependent on any man. Moreover, my father died early, so I was already responsible for my younger siblings. I was like their mother at that time, so I was very mature and financially prepared.
One should not marry a man when one is not financially stable. If one does that, one would be going into slavery or better still, prison. If any of my children, after considering all these factors, say they are ready for marriage, we (parents) would meet the person and if we like them, we would give them our blessings.”
The gunmen who invaded the governor’s village house in Omuma in the Oru East Local Government Area of the state in early hours of Saturday killed two security men on duty before torching it.
Our correspondent’s investigation revealed that one of the security men killed was an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
According to a village source who pleaded anonymity, cars parked at the compound and part of the building were affected by the fire.
According to the source, the security men on duty repelled the gunmen, leading to the death of the two cops.
An unconfirmed news also has it that the gunmen killed two other security men at Oguta-Mgbidi Junction, a road that leads to the governor’s country home.
Nigeria has overtaken the Democratic Republic of Congo with 25 percent of people without access to electricity, making it the country globally with the highest number of citizens that lack access to power.
World Bank Group Practice Manager, West and Central Africa Energy, Ashish Khanna, disclosed this in his presentation during a virtual engagement with power reporters in Abuja on Wednesday, April 21.
According to him, “Nigeria now has the largest number of unelectrified people globally and the trend is worsening; of the electrified, the supply is very unreliable with widespread blackouts.
Electrification, which was growing at 1.1% yearly since 2010, has not kept pace with the population growth of 3% yearly. This has increased the deficit by 3 million people to 85m which is 57% of the population. Nigeria now has 25% more unelectrified people than the 2nd most unelectrified country (DRC – in absolute terms).
The power sector is operationally inefficient with unreliable supply exacerbated by high losses and lack of payment discipline. Businesses in Nigeria lose about $29 billion annually because of unreliable electricity while Nigerian utilities get paid for only a half of electricity they receive.”
US President Joe Biden will travel to the UK and the EU in June for his first overseas trip, the White House said on Friday.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the trip aims to “highlight his commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalising the transatlantic relationship, and working in close co-operation with our allies”.
Mr Biden will attend the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, set for June 11 to 13, followed by a visit to Brussels, where he will hold meetings with European Union leadership and attend the June 14 Nato Leaders Summit.
“While in Brussels, President Biden will participate in a US – EU Summit, which will underscore our commitment to a strong transatlantic partnership based on shared interests and values,” Ms Psaki said.
“The leaders will discuss a common agenda to ensure global health security, stimulate global economic recovery, tackle climate change, enhance digital and trade co-operation, strengthen democracy and address mutual foreign policy concerns.”
The meetings with the country’s closest allies come after Mr Biden invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to a summit in the coming months in a third country, though no date has yet been set.
Recent American presidents selected North American neighbours for their first cross-border trips, though former president Donald Trump, whose penchant for unilateral action and open scepticism of the Nato alliance unsettled American allies, made his first overseas stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that she was looking forward to Mr Biden’s trip, saying, “We have much to do together.”
Together with @eucopresident Michel, I will be happy to greet US @POTUS Biden in Brussels for the EU-US summit on his next trip to Europe in June 2021.
We have much to do together, from climate change to health, from trade and multilateralism to geopolitical challenges.
Nigerian Disc Jockey and music producer, DJ Cuppy, born Ifeoluwa Otedola has opened up she gets bullied on social media. DJ Cuppy said that she receives numerous negative comments and criticisms about her voice and music online.
According to the billionaire heiress, people constantly condemned her and told her to stick to being a DJ instead.
DJ Cuppy
Speaking further, she urged people to listen to her album; Original Copy and feel free to share their honest review, added that cyber bullying is not cool.
The Kayode Oladele-led Committee on Farmer/Herders Conflict in Ogun State has submitted its report to Governor Dapo Abiodun. The governor received the report in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, on Thursday.
Oladele, who led other members of the committee to submit the report, noted that farmers/herders clashes were the major security challenges facing the State.
According to him, the crisis had negative impact on food security and brought hardship to the inhabitants of the affected areas.
With the clashes, which have claimed many lives, Oladele affirmed that people’s “sources of livelihood have been destroyed.”
The Chairman pointed out that the committee, in carrying out its assignment, adopted a participatory approach that involved traditional rulers, community leaders, victims and their relatives as well as other relevant stakeholders.
He stated that the report included implementable recommendations that would go a long way in finally settling the crisis once and for all.
In his reaction, Governor Abiodun confirmed that many sustained various degrees of wounds in the three affected local government areas – Imeko/Afon, Yewa North and Yewa South.
He said the committee was set up with a mandate to find out the immediate and remote cause of the crisis, quantify the loses from all sides and come up with recommendations on how government could pre-emptive similar occurrences in the future, saying now that we have resolved this “never again should such dastardly skirmishes be allowed.”
According to the governor, “this Committee was set up by government to basically look into what happened, quantify the losses from both sides and make recommendations to government on how to pre-empt similar conflict from occurring in the future.
“We realised that this axis has a communication problem which prevented our people from communicating especially in times of crisis. We are solving this problem because telecommunication companies have started erecting their masts and very soon communication will improve in these areas.”
Britain’s parliament has become the latest government to declare China’s treatment of its Uighur citizens as genocide, attracting the condemnation of Beijing.
Lawmakers in the British House of Commons passed a motion unopposed after a three-hour debate Thursday declaring that the Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region of China “are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide.”
MP Nusrat Ghani, who China sanctioned along with four other members of parliament last month, introduced the bill telling lawmakers that while they must never misuse the term genocide they must also never fail to use it when warranted.
“Today, this parliament has a historic chance, together — regardless of party difference in most other matters — to hold its head up, stand tall and stand for those who have no voice,” she said in her introductory remarks. “Let us make the statement today, loud and clear, that the UK has not forgotten the Uighurs and others and that we will stand for them and insist that our government do exactly the same by calling this a genocide.”
Beijing has been accused by the United States, the European Union and other mostly Western nations of interning more than a million of its Uighur citizens in Xinjiang camps where they are subjected to forced labor, torture and sterilization.
It has also been accused of unlawful killings, forced disappearances and other human rights crimes — all of which China vehemently disputes, arguing the camps are to stamp out terrorism while demanding the foreign nation to stop interfering with its international affairs. The governments of Canada, the Netherlands and the United States have all said China is committing genocide.
However, the government of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has criticized China for its treatment of Uighurs, has been reluctant to call it a genocide stating such a declaration is for the courts.
“A finding of genocide requires proof that relevant acts were carried out with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic or religious group,” Nigel Adams, the minister of Asia, said during the debate. “For these reasons, we do not believe it is right for the government to make a determination in this, or in any other case where genocide or crimes against humanity are alleged.”
Ghani told lawmakers that she brought the motion to the parliament because the government says the determination can only be made by a court, for which every route has been blocked by China.
“We need to take back control,” she said. “Our route to declaring genocide cannot be controlled by China.”
China’s embassy in Britain on Friday admonished the politicians, calling the declaration “an outrageous smear against the development achievements of Xinjiang” and its policies.
The embassy in a statement reiterated its stance that Xinjiang-related issues are in nature about counter-terrorism, de-radicalization and anti-separatism, stating the accusations of a handful of British MPs “is the most preposterous lie of the century, an outrageous insult and affront to the Chinese people and a gross breach of international law and the basic norms governing international relations.”
The move is excepted to further fray relations between the two nations that have already become strained as Britain has repeatedly taken action against China for its treatment of its former colony, Hong Kong.
Following a year of mass protests in the city, Beijing imposed a draconian national security law upon Hong Kong last summer and this spring overhauled its electoral system reducing the number of elected officials and permitting only so-called patriots to hold office.
London said these measures violate conditions to maintain Hong Kong’s high-degree of autonomy guaranteed in the Sino-British Joint Declaration that returned the city to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
In response, Britain has launched a new visa for specific Hong Kong residents with a pathway to citizenship.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, said the British parliament has shown the world “the egregious abuses the Chinese state commits against the Uighur people.”
“We owe it to the victims of this genocide to call out the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal persecution of the Uighurs,” he said. “The free world must be united in holding the Chinese government to account for these abuses.”
The World Uighur Congress, an international organization of exiled Uighurs, celebrated Britain’s declaration.
“Uighur survivors have begged for recognition of what is happening to them,” WUC President Dolkun Isa said in a statement. “It is an important step in the right direction that British MPs have joined the momentum and called it what it is: a genocide.”
A pregnant lady has been apprehended in Markudi, Benue state capital for allegedly setting her man’s apartment on fire.
The lady whose name was not mentioned reportedly waited for her boyfriend to go out for his daily hustle before taking her belongings out and thereafter set the apartment ablaze.
Naija News understands that the incident happened precisely on Wednesday, April 21 at Achussa, a suburb of Makurdi, the capital city of the state.
Joseph, an eyewitness who also is a resident of the area, told newsmen that the unnamed lady who lives in one of the villages in the state, was only coming to visit her boyfriend occasionally.
He narrated further that the lady had on several occasions complained that her boyfriend was hardly giving her transport fare each time she visited, adding that she claimed they quarrelled on Tuesday after she demanded transport fare to return to the village and the matter was later settled.
“The following morning, she waited for him to go to work, brought out her few belongings before setting the room on fire. Unfortunately for her, the residents apprehended her before she could disappear,” Joseph told newsmen.
He added: “She was handed over to the vigilantes, but when her boyfriend was called upon, the community prevailed on them to settle the matter quietly without involving the police.”
When contacted on the incident the state police command spokesperson, DSP Catherine Anene, said she was not aware of the incident.
Lagos State Government, through the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), in conjunction with Joe Nwiloh Heart Foundation, has organised health and safety training in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
The Director General of the LSSC, Mr. Lanre Mojola, said the corps members were being trained to prevent them from becoming victims of CPR.
He said in tandem with the current administration’s policy, especially on safety and health issues, his agency had made it a matter of urgency to carry youths along, particularly on how to prioritise their health and safety, “especially now that we are in post-COVID-19 pandemic era.”
Mojola said cardiac arrest can be curbed through health and safety measures put in place by the agency, in conjunction with other health and safety agencies.
He said the 200 youth corps members selected for the training would become Lagos Safety Ambassadors, to ensure health and safety standards are improved in the state.
The federal government says it is turning around the entire passport application process by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and shortening passport processing time to six weeks.
The statement from the ministry of interior promises that the process will now be seamless and transparent; and that it will accord human dignity to applicants and fulfil citizenship integrity, in line with the mandate of the ministry.
The passport application and processing system in Nigeria is often a tortuous, rigorous and bribe-induced one, with touts often milling at passport offices.
During a meeting with the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammad Babandede, as well as the attaches in Nigeria’s Missions abroad, Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola said, “We have had several challenges in the past, including shortage of booklets, touting, racketeering, inflating the cost, passports being issued to ineligible persons, among others.
“It has become imperative therefore to review our operations and rejig our system, in order to be able to offer excellent services to our clients.”
The minister added that efforts are underway to embed visible and invisible security operatives in all passport offices. “They will wear body cameras. They will detect and report any form of solicitations, inflation, improper communications, extortion, diversion, hoarding and other corrupt practices. Those caught will be dealt with according to the law,” he stressed.
Aregbesola
The minister disclosed that an ombudsman will also be created for members of the public to receive complaints and reports on officers trying to deviate from prescribed guidelines and subversion of the process.
“Therefore, I am declaring a zero-tolerance stance to all forms of touting. No applicant will be made to pay any illegitimate fees,” Aregbesola declared.
Minister of information, culture and tourism, Lai Mohammed says it is in the best interest of Nigerian elites for the country to remain united. Mohammed stated this on Wednesday when he featured on a NAN flagship interview programme, NAN Forum. He accused elites of fanning the embers of disintegration in the country, and warned that they will bear the greater consequences if Nigeria breaks up. According to him, some elites who have attained professorial status may be left with no option than to work in bakeries in neighbouring Togo just to survive. Our challenge is more with the elites, not with the common people. Go to the remotest part of Nigeria today, you will see Nigerians from different tribes, culture and religion living together peacefully. “Elites ought to take the lead in cementing the unity of the country. But when the elites start preaching tribal hatred, people believe them because they think they know better. “Nigeria accounts for 70 percent of West Africa’s population, and if Nigeria should disintegrate today, we are going to overrun Benin Republic, Togo, Niger and other neighbouring countries. “The elites will suffer more because some professors could be working in bakeries in Togo just to survive. We saw it happen when the Liberians came here during their civil war. It is in their own enlightened interest that they should work to fix Nigeria. Many of them have more than one passport — American, British, Irish — and at the first crack of trouble, they are gone,” he said.
Bandits who attacked Greenfield University along the Kaduna-Abuja Highway in Kaduna State on Tuesday night, killed a porter of the institution, identified as Paul Okafor.
The assailants also kidnapped a yet-to-be ascertained number of students, said to be mainly females, it was learnt.The bandits stormed the school located on kilometre 34 along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway in the Chikun local government area of Kaduna State around 8:30pm with sophisticated weapons.
They reportedly fired their guns indiscriminately, killing Okafor, the porter in charge of the male hostel, in the process. They went away with at least 17 students, it was learnt. The bandits stormed the school located on kilometre 34 along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway in the Chikun local government area of Kaduna State around 8:30pm with sophisticated weapons.
They reportedly fired their guns indiscriminately, killing Okafor, the porter in charge of the male hostel, in the process.
They went away with at least 17 students, it was learnt.“The porter was shot when he was trying to close the door against the bandits to protect us,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Registrar of the University, Bashir Muhammad, who was at the Operation Thunder Strike camp, where the rescued students were being kept before they would be released to their parents, refused to speak on the incident, saying he had been directed not to say anything.
He, however, assured that the management of the school would speak on the matter on or before Friday when more details might have come out.
The newspaper learnt that the bandits had called some of the parents of kidnapped students, demanding ransom in millions of naira, which the school registrar neither denied nor confirmed.
Some of the parents of the abducted students, who were also at the military camp, were too traumatised to speak but were seen in groups discussing possible ways out in hushed tones.
Earlier, confirming the attack, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, in a statement said, “Last night, the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs received distress calls of an attack by armed bandits on the Greenfield University, situated at Kasarami, off the Kaduna-Abuja Road in Chikun LGA.
“Troops of Operation Thunder Strike (OPTS) and other operatives swiftly moved to the location and the bandits retreated.
“After search-and-rescue operations, a staff member of the university, Paul Ude Okafor, was confirmed to have been killed by the bandits, while a number of students were kidnapped.
“The security operatives took custody of the remaining students who have been handed over to the institution, as at noon today, Wednesday 21st April 2021.
“The actual number of students kidnapped is still being sought from the institution’s records.”
Kaduna has been a target for kidnappers in recent times.
On March 11, some bandits attacked the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in the Igabi Local Government Area of the state, kidnapping 39 students.
Ten of the students have been released while the fate of the others still hangs in the balance.
The state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has vowed not to negotiate or pay ransom to kidnappers, and also threatened that anyone who negotiates with the bandits on behalf of the government will be arrested and prosecuted.
A man has put himself in trouble with the law after he bedded his 13-year-old girlfriend and infected her with a sexually transmitted infection.
Convivial Kundai Pachirera, 24, was dragged to court recently where he was charged with bedding a minor.
According to a local tabloid, the Mabvuku man was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi.
It is in the States case that Pachirera started dating the 13-year-old on August 9 last year and on August 15, the complainant invited Pachirera to their house as she knew that she was going to be home alone and wanted to have quality time with her boyfriend.
It is alleged that Pachirera went to the house and they had lunch and afterwards, he asked for sexual intercourse which the minor reportedly consented to on condition that they used protection.
The court heard that they never communicated after the incident.
The matter only came to light in April this year after the complainant fell sick of a sexually transmitted infection and she told her teacher of her sexual experience with Pachirera.
A police report was made leading to Pachirera’s arrest.
President Joe Biden has said the conviction of a former police officer in the killing of George Floyd “can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America”.
But he warned: “We can’t stop here”.
White officer Derek Chauvin was filmed kneeling on African-American Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, sparking mass protests against racism.
He was found guilty on Tuesday of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Sentencing is likely to happen in two months, and Chauvin could spend decades in jail. He is expected to appeal against the verdict.
In a phone call with Mr Floyd’s family after the verdict was announced, the president was heard saying: “At least now there is some justice.”
In televised remarks shortly afterwards, Mr Biden said that such a verdict was “much too rare”.
“We can’t leave this moment or look away thinking our work is done. We have to look at it as we did for those nine minutes and 29 seconds,” he said.
Vice-President Kamala Harris urged lawmakers to pass the George Floyd bill aimed at reforming policing in the US.
“This bill is part of George Floyd’s legacy. This work is long overdue,” she said.
What other reaction has there been?
People gathered outside the courtroom and on the intersection in Minneapolis where Mr Floyd was killed to celebrate the verdict.
Cheers broke out, drivers honked their car horns and people blocked traffic chanting: “George Floyd” and “All three counts”, referring to the three charges of which Chauvin was convicted.
“It’s a good day in Minneapolis,” said 21-year-old Kenneth Nwachi.
One local resident told the Associated Press news agency she felt grateful and relieved, while another said: “There’s some form of justice that’s coming.”
Crowds also gathered in other cities to celebrate the verdict.
image captionPeople gathered in Minneapolis to celebrate the verdict and pay tribute to George Floyd
But they also said that more needed to be done.
Police officers have rarely been convicted – if they are charged at all – for deaths that occur in custody, and the verdict in the trial has been widely seen as an indication of how the US legal system will treat such cases in future.
At a family news conference, Mr Floyd’s brother Philonise said: “Today, we are able to breathe again.”
The Floyd family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said the conviction marked a “turning point in history” for the US.
According to the Washington Post newspaper, 274 people have been killed by US police in 2021.
It took the 12-member jury less than a day to reach their verdict.
Chauvin, whose face was obscured with a coronavirus mask, showed little reaction as the verdict was read, remaining quiet and looking around the room. His bail was revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.40.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionWatch the moment Derek Chauvin learnt his fate
The verdict followed a highly charged, three-week trial in which 45 witnesses took the stand and several hours of video footage were shown.
Several witnesses broke down in tears as they watched graphic footage of Mr Floyd’s death and described feeling “helpless” as events unfolded.
Expert witnesses on behalf of the state testified that Mr Floyd died from a lack of oxygen due to the manner of restraint employed by Chauvin and his colleagues.
Chauvin himself chose not to testify, invoking his right to not incriminate himself with his responses.
Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the Black man’s neck in a case that touched off worldwide protests, violence and a furious reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.
Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for decades. People elated by the verdict flooded the surrounding streets downtown upon hearing the news. Cars blared their horns, and people ran through traffic, waving banners.
Floyd family members gathered at a Minneapolis conference room could be heard cheering from the next room as each verdict was read.
The jury of six white people and six Black or multiracial ones came back with its verdict after about 10 hours of deliberations over two days. Chauvin was found guilty on all charges: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
His face was obscured by a COVID-19 mask, and little reaction could be seen beyond his eyes darting around the courtroom.
His bail was immediately revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back. Sentencing will be in two months. As the judge asked jurors if they reached a verdict, a hush fell on the crowd 300 strong in a park adjacent to the courthouse, with people listening to the proceedings on their cellphones. When the final guilty verdict was announced, the crowd roared, many people hugging, some shedding tears.
At the intersection where Floyd was pinned down, a crowd chanted, “One down, three to go!” – a reference to the three other fired Minneapolis police officers facing trial in August on charges of aiding and abetting murder in Floyd’s death.
Janay Henry, who lives nearby, said she felt grateful and relieved.
“I feel grounded. I can feel my feet on the concrete,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to the “next case with joy and optimism and strength.”
An ecstatic Whitney Lewis leaned halfway out a car window in a growing traffic jam of revelers waving a Black Lives Matter flag. “Justice was served,” the 32-year-old from Minneapolis said. “It means George Floyd can now rest.” The verdict was read in a courthouse ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops, in a city on edge against another round of unrest – not just because of the Chauvin case but because of the deadly police shooting of a young Black man, Daunte Wright, in a Minneapolis suburb April 11.
The jurors identities were kept secret and will not be released until the judge decides it is safe to do so.
Floyd, 46, died May 25 after being arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a pack of cigarettes at a corner market. He panicked, pleaded that he was claustrophobic and struggled with police when they tried to put him in a squad car. They put him on the ground instead.
The centerpiece of the case was the excruciating bystander video of Floyd gasping repeatedly, “I can’t breathe” and onlookers yelling at Chauvin to stop as the officer pressed his knee on or close to Floyd’s neck for what authorities say was 9 1/2 minutes. Floyd slowly went silent and limp. Prosecutors played the footage at the earliest opportunity, during opening statements, with Jerry Blackwell telling the jury: “Believe your eyes.” And it was shown over and over, analyzed one frame at a time by witnesses on both sides.
In the wake of Floyd’s death, demonstrations and scattered violence broke out in Minneapolis, around the country and beyond. The furor also led to the removal of Confederate statues and other offensive symbols such as Aunt Jemima.
In the months that followed, numerous states and cities restricted the use of force by police, revamped disciplinary systems or subjected police departments to closer oversight.
The “Blue Wall of Silence” that often protects police accused of wrongdoing crumbled after Floyd’s death: The Minneapolis police chief quickly called it “murder” and fired all four officers, and the city reached a staggering $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family as jury selection was underway.
Police-procedure experts and law enforcement veterans inside and outside the Minneapolis department, including the chief, testified for the prosecution that Chauvin used excessive force and went against his training.
Medical experts for the prosecution said Floyd died of asphyxia, or lack of oxygen, because his breathing was constricted by the way he was held down on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind him, a knee on his neck and his face jammed against the ground.
Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson called a police use-of-force expert and a forensic pathologist to help make the case that Chauvin acted reasonably against a struggling suspect and that Floyd died because of an underlying heart condition and his illegal drug use.
Floyd had high blood pressure, an enlarged heart and narrowed arteries, and fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in his system.
Under the law, police have certain leeway to use force and are judged according to whether their actions were “reasonable” under the circumstances.
The defense also tried to make the case that Chauvin and the other officers were hindered in their duties by what they perceived as a growing, hostile crowd.
Chauvin did not testify, and all that the jury or the public ever heard by way of an explanation from him came from a police body-camera video after an ambulance had taken the 6-foot-4, 223-pound Floyd away. Chauvin told a bystander: “We gotta control this guy ’cause he’s a sizable guy … and it looks like he’s probably on something.”
The prosecution’s case also included tearful testimony from onlookers who said the police kept them back when they protested what was happening. Eighteen-year-old Darnella Frazier, who shot the crucial video, said Chauvin just gave the bystanders a “cold” and “heartless” stare.
She and others said they felt a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt from witnessing Floyd’s slow-motion death.
“It’s been nights I stayed up, apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more, and not physically interacting and not saving his life,” Frazier testified, while the 19-year-old cashier at the neighborhood market, Christopher Martin, lamented that “this could have been avoided” if only he had rejected the suspect $20 bill.
To make Floyd more than a crime statistic in the eyes of the jury, the prosecution called to the stand his girlfriend, who told the story of how they met and how they struggled with addiction to opioids, and his younger brother Philonise. He recalled how Floyd helped teach him to catch a football and made “the best banana mayonnaise sandwiches.”
Youths numbering over 200 in the Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta state on Tuesday stopped the screening of supervisory councillors over allegations of imposition.
The protesting youths, drawn from the 13 wards of the local government area, were with leaves and placards that had different inscriptions accusing the commissioner representing Isoko North in the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), Paul Oweh; local government Peoples Democratic Party chairman, Godwin Ogorugba, council chairman, Christian Iteire and a few other leaders of imposing candidates on the people.
SaharaReporters gathered that the protesting youths had last week got wind of the screening and swearing-in of the supervisory councillors billed for Tuesday at the legislative chamber and stormed the council secretariat.
They drove away the councillors, council chairman, and some PDP leaders, disrupting activities there.
Our correspondent gathered that the protesting youths almost lynched the council chairman for allegedly conniving with the DESOPADEC commissioner, Oweh, and Ogorugba to carry out the imposition.
Speaking with our correspondent, one of the leaders of the protesters who identified himself as Joseph Owhologbo, from Ellu ward, said they decided to embark on the protest following the imposition of supervisory councillors by the council chairman, PDP chairman, and DESOPADEC commissioner without proper consultation with other leaders in the local government area.
“We are protesting against the wrong selection and imposition of supervisory councillors billed for screening today, Tuesday and their swearing-in by the council chairman, Christian Iteire in connivance with the Isoko North PDP chairman, Godwin Ogorugba, DESOPADEC commissioner, Paul Oweh and a few other leaders.
“They selected and imposed the supervisory councillors without consulting other leaders like Emmanuel Ogidi, Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay, Jude Omena Ogbimi, Kome Okpobor, Philip Adheke, Nelson Ejakpovi, Emma Egbabor and other leaders from the 13 wards in the Isoko North Local Government Area.
“This is absolutely wrong, we cannot fold our arms and watch this insolence act being done by the council chairman, Christian Iteire, Godwin Ogorugba, Paul Oweh and few others. To avoid any crisis in Isoko North Local Government Area, the council chairman and his cohorts should consult all leaders in the local government area before carrying out any selection of supervisory councillors,” he said.
Also speaking, a protester who simply identified himself as Karo, described the council chairman, PDP chairman and the DESOPADEC commissioner as trouble makers who did not mean well for the party.
“Ask Paul Oweh, what has he done since he was appointed as a commissioner in DESOPADEC? What has been his impact apart from amassing wealth? In Emevor, the only street he managed to tar was not done properly. It was a shoddy job and he got his kickback as always. What about the PDP chairman, he has nothing to offer other than to extort money from electoral candidates. We are saying no to any form of imposition on us,” he said.
In the same vein, a protester who identified himself as Lucky Okeremu from Emevor ward, also condemned the alleged imposition of the supervisory councillors on the people.
“In Emevor ward, we have two leaders, Paul Oweh and Nelson Ejakpovi who stood in all elections to deliver the PDP in Emevor ward. Paul Oweh has produced two councillors from Emevor and he again connived with the PDP chairman, Godwin Ogorugba and the council chairman, Christian Iteire to impose a supervisory councillor on us.
“This is an injustice being done to us all in Emevor ward. We are calling on the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa to intervene and put to an end all these acts of injustice being done by the Isoko North council chairman, Isoko North PDP chairman, DESOPADEC commissioner, Paul Oweh and few other leaders in our local government area,” he said.
Following the protest, the screening and swearing-in of the supervisory councillors had to be suspended.
Drivers of Nigeria’s biggest ride-hailing companies, Uber and Bolt have embarked on a strike action to push for the immediate increment of fares.
The e-cab operators, under the aegis of Professional E-hailing Drivers and Private Owners Association (PEDPA), had earlier warned that they would embark on strike if there demands were not met.
This was revealed by National President of PEDPA, Mr Idris Shonuga at a news conference in Lagos where he called for the immediate upward review of e-cab fares to reflect the current economic
He listed their five-point demands as follows: “Immediate and proper profiling of all riders patronising our services.
“Immediate joint upward review of the fares to meet the current economy reality. There must be uniform price across board. 100 /km, 15/mins 500 base fare and N1, 000 minimum fare.
“Immediate review of all accounts blocked unjustifiably.
“Adequate welfare packages for drivers and compensation to the families of those that lost their lives or permanently disabled!
“No more individual engagement, all policies must be reviewed by drivers’ union before being enacted.”
Meanwhile, there have been complaints of drivers losing their lives through kidnapping or outright targeted killing by ritualists while on the job with no compensation from the company.
“There have been instances where drivers have been slammed wrongfully with sexual assault charges by female riders who feel slighted by their drivers. And there is no insurance policy to cover the job risks,” a driver said.
Shonuga said the association was considering taking legal action to seek remedies against the e-hailing companies if their demands were not met.
The Kano State Police Command says it has rescued one Aisha Jibrin, 15, locked for 10 years in a solitary confinement.The police said Aisha was locked in a room by her parents without proper feeding and health care.
The police spokesperson in the state, Abdullahi Kiyawa, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said her mother, Rabi Muhammad, has been taken into custody but the father has fled.
The statement read, “The Kano State Police Command wishes to inform members of the general public that on the 19/04/2021 at about 1100hrs, information received revealed that one Aisha Jibrin, ‘f’, 15 years old of Darerawa Quarters, Fagge LGA, Kano State was solitarily confined for ten (10) years in a room by her biological parents, one Mohd Jibrin, ‘m’, and Rabi Mohd, ‘f’, of the same address inside their house without proper feeding and health care.
“On receipt of the report, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, CP Sama’ila Shu’aibu Dikko, fsi, raised and instructed a medical team and a team of detectives to proceed to the scene, rescue the victim and arrest the culprits.
“The teams immediately swung in to action. The victim was rescued and rushed to Murtala Mohammed Specialist Hospital, Kano and admitted.”
When SARS officers arrested Ugochukwu Oraefo, the 34-year-old sought to know what his crime was. Instead, what he got as a response from the vicious officers was a traumatic experience that took four days of hospitalization to recover from. In the early hours of April 30, 2018, three heavy-looking men in a Toyota Camry 2.2 stormed my ALUCOBEST Aluminum Store in the southeastern Nigerian town of Ogidi. The men wielded AK-47 rifles.
My name is Ugochukwu Oraefo. I am 34, and a father of five children. I sell aluminium roofing sheets, metra roofing sheets, stone-coated roofing tiles and other kinds of roofing materials.
That fateful day three years ago, I was in my store with my wife. The men wielding the guns told me they were police officers. They asked me to act as if I knew them and follow them. I was confused, so I refused. I asked to know if anyone had written a petition against me. They said they would tell me everything I needed to know only if I would enter their car.
It all sounded fishy, so I refused – again.
Later, the three men identified themselves as officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Awkuzu, a town in Anambra. When I continued to insist on not following them, they began to assault me with their guns.
Soon, concerned people gathered. They asked what the problem was, but the SARS officers did not say what offence I had committed. Instead, they said anybody who wanted to know what my offence was would have to follow them to their office. I told the crowd that I had refused to follow the men because for all I knew, they could be kidnappers.
I asked for an arrest warrant, but the SARS officers sarcastically asked whether I thought I was the governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, for me to think they needed to obtain a warrant from me.
“We will kill you if you fuck up,” they threatened.
I told them that it was better for them to kill me there, in the presence of onlookers, than to take me away and kill me anyhow they wanted, in the presence of no one. By that, I seemed to have angered them the more, because they started beating me again.
One of the SARS officers told me he was a soldier, claiming that what they were doing was ‘teamwork’. I asked what this supposed ‘teamwork’ was, but they only continued to beat me.
Later, the SARS officers gave me their phone and asked that I speak with their Officer in Charge (OC).
I had taken a sound beating by then and was not exactly in the mood to speak, but I pulled myself together and asked the OC what my offence was. The OC told me to stop asking “stupid” questions and just follow his men. I stood my ground and refused to comply, insisting that the OC let everyone know the offence they were claiming I had committed. The OC told me to return the phone to his men. I did as I was told. Unfortunately, the men resumed beating me.
After some time, I began to cave in. I asked my wife to call my lawyer, Justus Ijeoma. Ijeoma asked her to give the phone to the SARS officers, but they refused to speak to him. When the officers noticed I was not willing to follow them unless they spoke to Ijeoma, they asked my wife to call him again. She did. This time, the officers told Ijeoma who they were, and he agreed for me to follow them.
When we reached the SARS office, the officers threatened me. They said they would ‘treat’ my stubbornness.
They later took me to the backyard of their office. There, they tied my hands and legs behind my back, then they brought out a metal rod, which they put between my bound hands and legs. They placed two heavy concrete blocks on my back, before hanging me up.
They said they would ‘deal’ with me because I was ‘spoiling’ their ‘show’; whatever that meant. They later asked me how much I was willing to pay for my freedom. It was this request for a bribe that got me convinced I had indeed been kidnapped.
Burdened by the discomfort, I asked them how much they wanted. I don’t remember much of what happened afterward, because I passed out from being hanged for a long time. They eventually brought me down and untied me, taking me to a cell.
In the evening of that same day, they brought me out and asked if I was ready to tell them how much I wanted to pay.
I asked them again to tell me what crime I had committed at least.
“You still want to know what your offence is?!” they responded rudely. “Okay! No problem.”
I broke into tears at that point. I was tired of it all. I pleaded with them to let me know how much they wanted so everything would come to an end.
The SARS officers said they wanted 20 million naira. I offered to give them two million. They weren’t pleased. They mocked my offer, asking me if I thought I had come to their station to sell crayfish.
As the negotiations continued, and with some of their colleague officers there calling me a criminal, the SARS officers took me back to the backyard and threatened to tie me up again. I pleaded and promised to increase the money to three million naira.
Mind you, during the entire period, the SARS officers did not allow anybody to visit me. My wife continued to run my shop while waiting for my lawyer to return from his travels from his travels
The officers, at a point, threatened to kill me, believing that I was not willing to pay the money they were demanding.
They asked for my account number and I provided it. They then took me back to my cell.
The next day, they brought me out. They asked me if I wanted to ‘die’ in their station. I kept pleading. The officers remained unmoved.
On the third day of my detention, which was May 2nd, the three SARS officers that arrested me told me they were going to take me to an undisclosed location where they would ‘kill’ me for being difficult about giving in to their demand. I was blindfolded, handcuffed and driven away.
The drive took almost an hour. When the car stopped, the SARS officers brought me down and, still able to see slightly through the blindfold, I realized the place was in neighbouring Delta State, given the inscriptions on the signboards I was slightly able to see.
I also saw a pit filled with water, which one of the three officers asked me to move close to. The other officers were pointing their guns at me. The commanding officer asked why I did not want to give them money. “I’ve given my account number,” I responded desperately. “I don’t have up to 20 million naira.”
I asked them why they wanted to kill me, but they still wouldn’t tell me what I’d done. They only said they were ready to ‘finish’ me.
The commanding officer instructed the other officers to shoot me on the count of three. I was broken at this point. I wept. I begged. I asked them to take all the money in my account and spare my life. All I had then was five million naira.
The officers, though, insisted they would still kill me – but that they would take the money as well.
On the commanding officer’s count of three, I shut my eyes and heard the sound of gunshots.
I regained consciousness to find out it had been a mock execution.
They took me back to their station, where one of the officers asked if I knew where I was. “Yes, Sir,” I remember responding.
Another popped up and said he wanted to ‘finish’ me, but their commanding officer, Sunday Okpe, asked them to bring me to him. Okpe asked the officers to leave after they brought me to him.
After I took a seat, Okpe asked how much money I was going to give him so he could save me from the grips of his men. I told him that apart from promising his men that I was willing to give them all the money in my account, I did not know what to do again.
Okpe wasn’t moved. He insisted I give him “something tangible” so he could persuade his men to leave me alone. When I said I could only provide 200,000 naira to that effect, he took offence and ordered me out of his office.
Worried that I had blown a good opportunity to secure my freedom, I began to negotiate.
I told him I would make it 500,000 naira. He refused. I upped it to one million, telling him I would find out if my workers had cash in the office so I could access it.
He seemed okay with it and ordered me to make sure the money was brought to his office physically, as against a transfer.
He then freed me so I could go and arrange the money.
On Saturday, May 5, 2018, I went to see the SARS officers. I went in the company of the father of an apprentice at my shop, who also brought one Andrew Modili, a local politician who wields some influence in our area. The officers told us to transfer five million naira into the account of Modili.
I honestly do not know how Modili later settled the SARS officers after we sent the money to his account. The officers did not allow anyone else to see them apart from Modili.
Meanwhile, the officers took me to see Okpe, who asked to know how he would receive his agreed fee of one million naira. I promised him I would bring the money to his office on Monday, given the fact that his workers were closing for the day and the next day was set to be a Sunday.
Okpe told me that he would let me pay on Monday, May 7, because of Modili’s intervention. He then warned: “No ear must hear what has happened. Otherwise I will finish your family, your entire generation and everything you have.”
I promised to do as agreed.
At home, I did not confide in my wife concerning my ordeal at the hands of the SARS operatives. I also kept away from her the amount of money I had invested in my freedom. I was afraid that if I did, she would tell others out of concern, which would have led to the news spreading.
I also did not confide in Ijeoma, my lawyer, who at that time was outside Nigeria. I believe that if I had told him everything, he would have called the SARS officers to demand a refund – which would have put me at risk, as the officers could make a move to hurt me before Ijeoma returned from his trip.
I planned to tell Ijeoma everything when he returned, as I wanted the SARS officers to pay me back in damages.
On the morning of May 7, 2018, I went to the SARS office and gave one million naira to Sunday Okpe, as agreed.
Pleased that I had fulfilled my promise, Okpe gave me his phone number, claiming that we were now friends, and that I should call him anytime. He said he wondered how I had been in Anambra for years and not heard of him. He promised to offer me ‘protection’ from trouble. I told him that I was not a criminal; that I was engaged in a genuine, legitimate business, and so I did not expect to run into any trouble.
Okpe later told me I was ‘lucky’, and that I ought to thank my God, because he had planned to pursue my family at my house and take everything I own.
He told me he had heard I was a cultist, but I told him it was a lie, and that I know only God. He then revealed that SARS had looked for me in several locations to arrest me, but had not succeeded. He said they had monitored me at my store so many times. He also said he was the one who had guaranteed his men that my store was the best place to capture me.
After two months, my lawyer Ijeoma returned. I told him everything that had happened.
When he asked why I hadn’t told him all that had happened, I told him I feared nothing but talk would have come out of it. I was aware of many people SARS had killed, whose families were yet to receive compensation.
My lawyer and I wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Abuja. The SARS officers were summoned to the headquarters of the police for questioning, where they accepted they had collected six million naira from me. They refunded the money after a month, thankfully.
I later sued them for damages. But they never showed up.
I believe the government does not hold SARS accountable because they work for the government.
My experience with SARS messed me up. I spent four days in the hospital in order to recover from the physical and psychological trauma I underwent in their custody. My legs and hands felt alien to me from all that beating.
Life afterwards was tough. Some of my store customers stopped patronizing my business after they had heard about my arrest and detention, never bothering to find out what my supposed crime was. Some concluded I was a thief, while others believed I was a kidnapper. My reputation was torn to shreds.
You know, people who are arrested by SARS officers are often painted as kidnappers and armed robbers by the public, but I believe the real kidnappers and armed robbers are the SARS officers themselves, who have poisoned Ogidi and Anambra State with their intimidation of innocent people. They are heartless criminals who are worse than the criminals they claim to pursue.
I am an honest businessman. I don’t steal.
Imagine what would have become of my five children if anything unfortunate had happened to me in SARS custody. They wanted to kill me, or at worst, make me poor.
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