Terrorism : Fulani herdsmen kill four in Taraba

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Fulani herdsmen on Thursday killed four persons in Taraba State.

The attack came 10 hours after Governor Darius Ishaku alerted on the attack.

The gunmen attacked Ngutwsem village, Gassol local government area of the state on Thursday night.

The victims included one Mr. Shiriga Vaawombo and his wife Ngunan.

A family relative, who witnessed the incident, said: “When the couple heard gun shots, they crawled out of a room where they were sleeping.

“The husband took the wife to a place he thought was safer. He was returning to pick up their baby when the invaders shot him. His wife then cried out from where she was hiding. She was gunned down too.”

The late Vaawombo’s second wife, Iveren, 35, was all tears on Friday.

The woman told The Nation that she had traveled to Sabon Gida when the killers invaded their home. - The Nation

EFCC files fraud charge against CCT chairman

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed a two-count charge of fraud against Danladi Umar, chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

In the charge sheet seen by TheCable, the anti-graft agency alleged that in 2012, Umar demanded a bribe of N10 million from one Rasheed Taiwo who had a case at the tribunal.

Festus Keyamo, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), filed the suit at the high court of the federal capital territory (FCT) on behalf of the EFCC.

Count 1 read: “That you, DANLADI YAKUBU UMAR, being the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and presiding over a case with Charge No. CCT/ABJ/03/12, involving one Rasheed Owolabi Taiwo, sometime in 2012, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did ask for the sum of N10,000,000.00 (Ten Million Naira) from the said Rasheed Owolabi Taiwo, for a favour to be afterwards shown to him in relation to the pending Charge (No. CCT/ABJ/03/12) in discharge of your official duties and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 12(1)(a) & (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2003.

The charge sheet

Count 2 read: “That you, DANLADI YAKUBU UMAR, being the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and presiding over a case with Charge No. CCT/ABJ/03/12, involving one Rasheed Owolabi Taiwo, sometime in 2012, at Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did receive the sum of N1,800,000.00 (One Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Naira) from the said Rasheed Owolabi Taiwo, through your Personal Assistant by name Alhaji Gambo Abdullahi, for a favour to be afterwards shown to him in relation to the pending Charge (No. CCT/ABJ/03/12) in discharge of your official duties and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 12(1)(a) & (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act.”

Former President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Umar after he was recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

On September 18, 2015, Umar made history by becoming the first judge in the country to issue an arrest warrant against a sitting senate president.

He had ordered the arrest of Senate President Bukola Saraki who failed to appear before the tribunal in the trial of alleged false declaration of assets.

The tribunal eventually discharged and acquitted Saraki. - Cable Nigeria

Shocking !!! Man cuts off cousin’s penis in Niger

Niger State police command has arrested one Aliyu Mohammed, for allegedly cutting off his 12-year-old cousin’s manhood at Borgu Local Government Area.

It was gathered that the suspect accosted his victim, Ibrahim Farouk, on his way to the farm.

According to Punch, Mohammed squeezed Ibrahim’s throat until he passed out, cut off his manhood and left him in his pool of blood.

But the Farouk regained consciousness after nine hours and managed to get home, where he narrated his ordeal to his parents, after which he fainted.

He told Punch: “I did not know what was happening; I woke up in the afternoon and was feeling pains in my manhood. When I looked down, I saw I was bleeding and my manhood had been cut off.

“I had to gather some strength and struggled to get home. I walked and in some places, I had to rest because the pain was much. I never knew one could feel such pain and survive, the pain was excruciating.”

According to the victim’s uncle, Usman Aliyu, a catheter was inserted in the victim to enable him to urinate.

He noted that Farouk still needs a comprehensive surgery for his manhood to function.

Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Abubakar, confirmed the incident, saying the matter had been charged to court. - Daily Post

IOM : 90 migrants dead as boat capsizes off Libya coast

More than 90 people lost their lives on Friday in the latest migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya.

The UN International Organization for Migration said the 90 migrants were reported to have drowned, when a boat capsized off the coast of Libya this morning.

It added that, “10 bodies are reported to have washed up on Libyan shores”, including two Libyan nationals and eight Pakistanis. Two survivors from the disaster had swum to shore, while another was rescued by a fishing boat,” IOM further said.

Figures by IOM showed that excluding Friday’s tragedy, 218 migrants have already died on the central route in 2018.

“Twenty-eight migrants have died in 2018 on the western route that links North Africa to Spain,” IOM added.

Falana : Obasanjo brought shame to Nigeria

Human rights activist, Femi Falana, on Friday urged former President Olusegun Obasanjo to admit that he (Obasanjo) brought shame to the country during his time as Nigeria’s leader.

Falana said the ex-President should stop insulting the collective intelligence and memories of Nigerians having instituted the culture of impunity in the country.

Speaking to journalists in Benin City, Edo State, Falana said he was surprised when he read that the Senate had asked President Muhammadu Buhari to bring a fresh person to replace Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He noted that Obasanjo had the opportunity to be great by providing good leadership and rid the country of corruption.

The lawyer stated that apart from the allegations of nepotism and clannishness Obasanjo leveled against President Buhari, “other allegations made there were nothing to write home about.”

He said: “In another words, all the other allegations took place under President Obasanjo and in fact, he institutionalized the culture of impunity under the democratic dispensation in Nigeria.

“If President Obasanjo who ruled this country for 11 and half years has institutionalized democracy, rule of laws and respect for human rights, we will not be in this mess and the control of Nigeria by the Nigerian people, we will be having an Eldorado by now.

“So, please, let Obasanjo and others be honest to admit that they brought us to this shameful episode. So, nobody should grandstand when it comes to the mis-governance of Nigerians.

“Nobody has apologized. The fact that from 1999 to 2007, this country, made close to hundred billion dollars from the sale of one commodity, oil. What is there to show for it rather than permanent darkness?

“The more you spend on energy, the more darkness you get. So what is there to celebrate? What we have were mass unemployment and sales of national assets to few boys who were closed to the presidency, rigging of elections.

“You have all forgotten that the results from Delta, Ondo and others were announced in Abuja and in those states in order to rig those elections. What is there to celebrate?

“President Obasanjo is entitled to form his own political party or his own movement but he should please desist from insulting the collective intelligence and the collective memories of Nigerians.

“When Sharia started, the federal government did not challenge the unconstitutionality. Under that era, we had ethnicity and religious violence that claimed lives of over 20,000 Nigerians.

“With great respect to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, apart from the allegations of nepotism and clannishness, which cannot be disputed, every other allegations made there, is nothing to write home about. In other words, all the other allegations took place under Obasanjo and in fact, he institutionalized the culture of impunity under the democratic dispensation in Nigeria.

“Many of us have forgotten the abduction of Governor Chris Ngige, many of us have forgotten the fact that the National Assembly and the House of Representatives displayed bales of naira with which it was alleged that the presidency wanted to bribe the legislators.

“Many of us have forgotten about the third term agenda or the fact that many people who were also closed to the seats of power were treated like sacred cows even in the fight against corruption. But I do not want to join issues with Obasanjo for now on his letter so that one is not seeing as endorsing impunity in our country but other than the allegations of nepotism and clannishness which the presidency is notoriously noted for, I think, they are birds of same feathers.” - The Nation

Coalition for Nigeria: Obasanjo stole our idea

A group, Coalition for Nigeria (CN), has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of adopting its name to launch his Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM).

The proposed political movement by Chief Obasanjo  was launched in Abuja on Wednesday  with former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Donald Duke in attendance..

The group warned Nigerians not to be into thinking they are dealing with the authentic members of the group.

CN described the Obasanjo-led Coalition Movement as a group of failed politicians and those that do not anything to offer the country again.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Mr. Sabo Odeh, the National Co-odinator, said the authentic Coalition for Nigeria has noble intentions centered around galvanizing Nigerians for nation building, with tenets that are long-term without pandering to unnecessary drama and media hype.

He said: “Our coalition is not limited to creating a backdoor for retired and tired politicians to install puppets in government for the purpose of continuing to loot the treasury while ruling by impunity as had been experienced in the past.

“The Coalition for Nigeria, having the best intentions of our dear nation at heart, is careful to go about effecting change in a way that does not jeopardise the stability and safety of Nigeria. There is nothing to be gained in burning our country in the name of seeking improvement; the reforms we all desire are achievable through persuasion, consensus building and collaboration without resorting to inflammatory acts and utterances as we have seen with some people.

“Our coalition is made up of Nigerians that yearn for a better country with the firm belief that the dismantling of the infrastructure for corruption is a necessary first step that ensure that we can then build the country on a solid foundation that provides level playing field to all citizens.

“The authentic Coalition for Nigeria will continue to pursue the noble objective of having credible persons to drive the Nigerian Project irrespective of differences pertaining to class, ethnicity, religious or political affiliation. “

APC restructuring report is Nigeria’s ‘biggest scam’

Ken Okolugbo, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says the document brought forward by the All Progressives Congress (APC) committee on restructuring is Nigeria’s “biggest scam”.

He said this on Thursday when he featured on Channels Television.

Last week, the committee headed by Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, submitted its report to the party’s leadership.

Among the things it recommended were state police, state judicial council, fiscal federalism and independent candidature.

Okolugbo described the report as a ploy “to deceive Nigerians”.

“It is the biggest scam Nigerians have ever seen. By this time next year, you will see that APC would have done nothing on restructuring,” he said.

“I am hundred percent sure they will not implement it.”

He said his doubt on the implementation of the report is because el-Rufai “does not believe in restructuring”.

According to him, the report “coming from el-Rufai, is very distasteful”.

He said: “The most painful aspect of it is the fact that the driver of this process, el-Rufai, was the same person that once said here in Channels TV studio that those people that were talking about restructuring were political opportunists who were only irresponsible and out to attract attention to themselves.

“So the document is coming from a man that does not even believe in restructuring. If you look at the manifesto of APC, everything that they have done, they have wasted public funds as far as I am concerned.”

He said the party went round the states while working on the report “because they only want to sell it to Nigerians to win their votes”.

“The truth about it is that all these things were in their manifesto – the same federalism we were talking about, the same resource control, state police, state electoral commissions having registers of their own. They talked about it in their manifesto.” - Cable Nigeria