I saw hell in Ghana, says prof accused of inciting Nigerians

Augustine Nwagbara, a professor from the University of Lagos, said he suffered a harrowing experience with Ghanaian authorities through the university where he served and security agencies.

Nwagbara narrated the ordeal on Thursday when he paid a courtesy visit to Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), in Abuja.

He said the video of him that went viral on the social media where he was said to be inciting Nigerians against Ghana was painted in such a way to blackmail him

“They said I was sacked, then dismissed, which was another wrong word to use, as you cannot dismiss somebody on sabbatical in your country,” he said, adding that he was subjected to a series of interrogations by the University of Education, Winniba in Ghana

“As I speak with you, I have not received any letter of sack or dismissal whereas various factions of the letters are already in circulation in Ghana and on social media.

He, however, commended Olufemi Abikoye, the Nigerian High Commissioner in Ghana, for his prompt intervention in the whole saga.

“But for him, I probably would have been a dead man,” he added.

Nwagbara, a professor of English, was in Ghana on a one-year sabbatical in December 2018 and a purported video of him addressing an informal meeting of Nigerians living in Ghana where he was quoted to have insulted Ghanaians, went viral.

Nwagbara said the doctored video was allegedly said to have been released by a journalist working with a Ghanaian private TV station.

Receiving the professor in her office, Abike Dabiri-Erewa said 1036 Nigerians were deported by Ghanaian authorities for controversial reasons in 2017 and 2018.

“We are proud of you as one of our best brains. You are an asset to your country. Not surprising, you’ve received offers from other Universities to complete your sabbatical before returning to the University of Lagos,” a statement released by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, NIDCOM’s head of media, quoted her to have said.

“Between January and June 2019, 509 Nigerians were forcefully deported while 527 Nigerians got deported in 2018”

“We are not going to tolerate any country treating Nigerians shabbily.

She called for caution and warned that such treatment should not be allowed to degenerate to the level of retaliation.

- THECABLE 

I defiled my daughter to test her virginity – Father tells court

Wasiu Orilonise, a 37-year-old security guard, has confessed to defiling his 15-year-old daughter after being arraigned before Oyo State Magistrates’ Court sitting in Ibadan.

The suspect was arraigned on one-count of having unlawful carnal knowledge of his daughter with Charge‎ No. Mi/271c/2019.

He, however, begged the court for forgiveness as he claimed to have committed the said offence because he wanted to test the virginity of his daughter to protect her.

The prosecutor, Mr. Sunday Ogunremi, told the court that the accused, in December 2018, at Omo Village, Agbofieti, Ibadan, in the Ibadan magisterial district, did rape one Orilonise Adenike.

Ogunremi‎ said the offence was contrary to and punishable under Section 34, Subsections 1 and 2 of the Child Rights Law of Oyo State of Nigeria, 2006.

No plea was‎, however, taken during the arraignment.

However, when the Chief Magistrate, Mr Taiwo Olaniran, sought to know from the accused what could have pushed him into defiling his biological daughter, Orilonise said that since he lost his wife a few years ago, he had been taking care of Adenike and others siblings.

He further told the court that he committed the act in an attempt to protect his daughter and check if she had lost her virginity.

“The incident happened as I was trying to ascertain if Adenike had lost her virginity,” he said.

Upon discovering that she was still intact, he started having sex regularly with her both in the morning before she leaves for school and at night.

‎The magistrate criticised fathers who were fond of sexually abusing their daughters and other under-aged girls.

He thereafter ordered that the accused be remanded in Agodi Prison pending legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and adjourned the case till July 30, 2019.

- DAILY POST

PL : Pochettino admits he would have quit Tottenham if they won Champions League

Mauricio Pochettino has claimed he would have quit Tottenham, if they had won the Champions League final.

Spurs lost the final 2-0 to Premier League rivals Liverpool in Madrid on June 1.

Pochettino, speaking to reporters on their pre-season tour, said coming so close and then losing the final, has served to revitalise him for the challenge ahead.

“After five years in a difficult project at Tottenham, we talk a lot about perception and reality, how we fight and all the energy we expend trying to get Tottenham fighting with the best teams in Europe and England.

“Of course it’s always in your head, you never know. With the way I am, I am always going to prioritise the club over myself.

“Maybe if it was a different result after the final you can think, ‘OK, maybe this is a moment to step out of the club, leave the club and give them the possibility of a really new chapter with a new coaching staff’.

“But after the final I felt this was not great to finish like this. I’m not a person that avoids facing problems or a difficult situation.

“I am more on that side of – I love a massive challenge, a difficult challenge and of course now to rebuild that mentality, to make it possible to repeat a similar season, that is exciting and motivates me a lot,” he said.

Pochettino, 47, has been at Spurs for five years and won no trophy.

- DAILY POST

Funke Fasoranti: Why we’ve not declared war against herdsmen – Gani Adams

The Aare Ona Kankafo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams, has disclosed reasons he is incapacitated to led his men in an offensive against suspected Fulani herdsmen ravaging the south west in various forms of attacks.

Gani Adams, who by the virtue of his position is considered as the generalissimo of the Yoruba nation, however, disclosed that strategies were already being mapped out towards tackling the menace.

The Aare Ona Kankafo stated this on Thursday’s night during his visit to the Akure residence of National Leader of the Pan Yoruba Socio-political organization, Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti over the murder of his daughter, Mrs. Funke Olakunri by gunmen suspected to the herdsmen last week Friday.

58-year-old Mrs Olakunrin was on her way to Lagos from Akure, the Ondo State capital where she had gone to visit her 93-year-old father when her assailants struck and shot her dead in the Land Cruiser SUV she was travelling in on the Benin-Sagamu highway.

According to Gani Adams, who maintained that while killings by herdsmen would no longer be condoned within Yoruba land, the approach would be tactical as he stressed that the herdsmen operations are in three phases.

“We can no longer allow our people to be killed like chickens. We can’t keep quite while Yorubas are being killed like fouls

“It’s very important that we have to react to this issue but we will not over react. We are being cautious so that we won’t be setup. And the law is there that we have to operate within the ambit of the law. That is one of the reasons we are being careful.

“My own Aare Ona Kakanfo is a modern one. It is not that of the olden days where the Alaafin and some Yoruba Obas with the Oyo Mesi will declare war and you can go to war.

“We have the structure of security on ground, the entire security apparatus.

“We have to be careful not to go into their trap. We have to be careful. It is good you see me in circulation to walk with you. We don’t want a situation we walk into their trap because we realize that this ugly incident is being coordinated beyond our own scene. There are some forces behind them.

“How can ordinary Fulani herdsmen be holding AK 47? In our findings, one AK 47 rifle goes for about N1 million and with many bullets. So, we are looking beyond ordinary Fulani herdsmen.

“We realized that there are some forces behind them in three phases. Those who strike in the bush, those who issued statement to back them up and those who are strategists, who give instructions to those who strike and to those who issue statements.

“Our problem in Yoruba land is that we don’t prepare, we always react. When we tell our people to prepare, they employ nonchalant attitude to it.”

Gani Adams added that the collaboration of the state governors within the south west is germane towards confronting the situation.

He also stated that he has received assurances from security agencies of stepping up efforts at ensuring effective surveillance on the notorious spots that have been identified.

“We are having different meetings on different organizations and we are planning to have a synergy with our state government in the south west.

“Don’t forget, that the governors are the chief security officers of their states and in a sensitive security situation like this we have to be very careful not to jump the gun.

“But I can tell you authoritatively that we are meeting as a group and as stakeholders to map out strategies to complement efforts of the law enforcement agencies.

“I’ve been notified that the IGP has arranged a special squad to work on that dangerous spot of the south west due to the letter I wrote to the IGP four weeks ago.

“I have seen this signal, I have the information. Last year I wrote our governors and a summit on security was held three weeks ago, just within three hours we couldn’t conclude that summit they left that venue.

“Now we don’t have option, we have to work with them. They are the chief security officers of their states and anything that happens within their state is an embarrassment to them. Don’t forget that they are the ones collecting all the security votes. As the Aare Ona Kankafo I use my personal fund. We are talking about someone that is ready to sacrifice anything for his own race and not reading political meaning to all that is happening.”

- DAILY POST

Call your violent members to order – CAN tells Miyetti-Allah

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Thursday urged the leadership of the Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) to call their members who are violent to order.

The President, CAN, Dr Samson Ayokunle, who made the call at a news conference in Abuja, said until they were called to order, they cannot regain the trust and respect of Nigerians.

The cleric explained that nobody hated the Fulani until some Fulani began to act violently, killing innocent people.

CAN said that if there was any enemy from any Fulani man, the Fulani man created the enemy for himself, adding “they have been living peacefully for many years in our various communities, till the killing issues started.”

”In those days, our children married them, they married our children, but when they became too violent and started carrying AK47, killing people, what type of play is that? that’s a dangerous play.
”We can no longer think we are friends with that type of play it’s too dangerous, so let them call their people to order and ensure that they remove the enmity they have created around an average Fulani person,” NAN quoted him as saying.
 He challenged their leaders to call out the violent ones among them to order, that is the only way people will respect them and people can trust them again.
 Ayokunle also charged the government to step up its security system across the country with a view to stopping the unending killings.

- DAILY POST

3 men burnt to death on suspicion of cattle theft

The police on Friday said three men were lynched by a mob in the Saran district of Bihar, India over suspicion of cattle theft.

Police said the men were spotted by villagers in Bihar with a pickup truck that allegedly had two stolen buffaloes.

“Some 30 villagers gathered and many started beating the men with sticks till they collapsed. The victims were rushed to a hospital but they had died by then,” The district police chief, Har Rai said.

Rai said villagers were angry because the men who belonged to a nearby hamlet had stolen cattle from their villagers in recent weeks as well.

“We have arrested three villagers for taking the law in their hands,” Rai said, adding a case had also been filed against the alleged cattle thieves by the villagers.

Police rejected the killings being a religiously motivated hate crime, saying two victims were from the majority Hindu community while one was from the Muslim community

Incidents of lynching and vigilante justice are regularly reported from India.

Hardline Hindu groups have led campaigns targeting Muslims and low caste Dalits over suspicion of cattle slaughter and beef consumption.

India’s Hindu majority regards the cow as holy and its slaughter is banned in several Indian states, dpa reports.

India also saw a spate of mob lynchings in 2018 sparked by rumours that child abductors were on the prowl.

- PM NEWS

Bandits massacre 20 villagers in Sokoto

Suspected armed bandits have killed over 20 persons in Dan Tatsako Village, Goronyo Local Government area of Sokoto State.

A source in the local government told Channels TV that the assailants arrived in the village at night armed with sophisticated weapons and started shooting sporadically.

He said apart from the 20 persons killed, houses and other properties were destroyed by the bandits.

The source explained that survivors of the attack fled the village to seek refuge in nearby communities within Goronyo and Isa Local Government areas of Sokoto state.

The Sokoto state police public relations officer, Mohammed Sadiq who also confirmed the attack, saying the casualty figures were yet to be ascertained.

Smoke engulfs Boeing 737 cockpit, passengers evacuated

A Boeing 737 plane belonging to Russia’s Nordwind Airlines cancelled its takeoff from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on Friday after a sensor went off indicating that there was smoke inside the cockpit, the Moscow Region branch of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said Friday.

The flight was bound for Armenian capital Yerevan.

The airline explained why the flight was aborted: “At 00:45 Moscow time, strange smell was reported in the cabin as flight N4-477 SVO-EVN B738 (VPBSZ) was accelerating on the runway. The crew aborted the takeoff, left the runway, turned off the engines and organized the evacuation of passengers (162 adults, 11 children) using inflatable slides,” the company said.

According to the Sheremetyevo Airport’s online schedule, flight N4-477 departed at 05:19 and is expected to arrive to Armenia’s capital Yerevan at 09:00 Moscow time.

There were 187 people on board the plane, and all passengers were evacuated after the accident with eight people injured in the process, the Moscow Region branch of the Russian Emergencies Ministry told Sputnik.

According to airport authorities, eight passengers sustained moderate wounds during the evacuation, while two were hospitalised.

The Federal Agency for Air Transport said it had formed a special commission to investigate the circumstances and reasons behind the incident.

Later on Friday, a spokesperson for Sheremetyevo International Airport said that 28 people had refused to take a backup flight to Armenia. The others decided to embark on the journey.

In May, an SSJ100, bound for the northwestern Russian city of Murmansk, caught fire upon making an emergency landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport following an on-board electronics failure that it experienced less than 30 minutes after take-off. The accident saw 41 of the 78 people aboard killed.

- PM NEWS

Italian police arrest 19 Nigerian mafiosi in major crackdown

Italian police said Thursday they have arrested 19 suspected members of a Nigerian mob, including the leaders of a clan, called MAPHITE, which forged alliances with other mafias and violently punished anyone who rebelled.

In an operation dubbed “Burning Flame”, coordinated by police in Bologna and Turin, over 300 officers carried out arrests and searches in nine cities across northern Italy from Bergamo to Modena, Parma and Ravenna.

A two-year probe — aided significantly by a man on the inside who fed details to investigators — “has allowed us to destroy much of what, within the Nigerian community, is known as the ‘MAPHITE’ cult,” police said in a statement.

It said the acronym stood for Maximum Academic Performance Highly Intellectuals Train Executioner.

“Among those arrested were those who held a leading role within the criminal organisation. 

“Those who decided on the new initiations, who ran the prostitution rings, who dominated by force the other criminal organisations, who ran the drug trade in the city squares,” it said.

Fifty other suspects were under investigation, it added.

Anti-immigrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini hailed the bust.

“Maxi-operation against the Nigerian mafia, so much for those who denied its existence. Thanks to the police and investigators. We don’t need this kind of immigration. Ports closed, jails open!,” he tweeted.

Police said the Nigerian mob used “urban guerrilla warfare which continued for days at a time” to maintain territorial control.

The ‘cult’ was just one of a series of foreign organised crime groups which had adopted Italian mafia codes, police said.

While they have much in common, they are independently structured and “in strong rivalry with each other”, it added.

Maphite was founded back in the 1980s — along with other Nigerian gangs such as the Black Axe and the Vikings — before developing into a full-blown organised crime group in the 1990s, police said.

It adopted the moniker Green Circuit Association to camouflage its international expansion and is now widespread in many countries around the world.

Green Bible:

The top mobsters are known in gang lingo as the Main Chief, Deputy Don, Checker (the treasurer) and Fire — who is in charge of giving orders, while an executive committee carries them out.

Members have to follow strict rules of conduct laid out in the so-called “Green bible”, kept safe by the leader. The commandments of the Green Bible included the ‘Mario Monti’ norm on recycling money to countries of origin, police said.

“New members are initiated following precise rituals, and treason is met with corporal or lethal punishment,” police said.

The rituals included new members being first beaten then asked to swear allegiance while holding burning paper, using the words “if I reveal our secrets, this fire will burn me and all I own”, Italian media reported, citing investigators.

Four subsets within the Maphite were identified: the ‘Vatican Family’, in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, the ‘Latin Family’ in the northwest, the ‘Rome Family Empire’ in central Italy, and the ‘Light House of Sicily Family’ in the islands, they said.

Osabuohien Ehigiator, a Nigerian Mafia boss arrested in Palermo months ago

Maphite maintains close ties to Nigeria, so that those who cross it fear retaliation not just in Italy but there too, police said.

Paolo Borgna, deputy prosecutor in Turin, said the foreign mafias “are born and develop by giving protection to their countrymen and developing a kind of parallel, ruthless and criminal justice”.

“It is a characteristic shared by all mafias: protection is offered, compensation is requested, protection is imposed and, finally, those who do not accept it are punished,” he told journalists at a press conference.

He said Maphite had a common fund which the newly-affiliated paid into when they joined.

“It’s not a refined mafia… but not one to be underestimated. It must be contained now,” he added.

Italy’s far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini hailed the “maxi-operation”, saying “we don’t need this type of immigration. Ports closed, jails open.”

- PM NEWS