Pandemonium in Ketu Lagos as cult groups in brutal clash

 There was pandemonium in Ketu area of Lagos on Tuesday as rival cult groups were locked in brutal clash, with dangerous weapons freely used.

Traders hurriedly closed their shops and ran as shootings were heard in the area.

Motorists also abandoned their vehicles and scampered into safety as guns threateningly boomed.

The whole area was deserted while policemen were drafted.

The crisis between cultists which has spread to Mile 12 area was said to have begun on Monday night.

One person reportedly died.

A reprisal attack took place on Tuesday evening, as the hoodlums battled one another.

Concerned residents have been sending Twitter messages to people living around Ketu and Mile 12 areas to stay off as the clash was said to be massive.

Segun Awosanya, a Nigerian realtor and human rights activist, popularly known as Segalink said on Twitter that “hoodlums are declaring a state within the state in Lagos between Ketu (Tipper Garage) & Owode inward Ikorodu.

“The road construction is causing daily traffic coupled with clashes of cult groups leading to incessant robberies in the morning and evening.”

According to Rotimi O.A, “Dear Mr Governor, you need to beam your search light on this Mile 12, ketu and Environs. A lot of security issues. I witnessed this today. Only God saved one.”

“Omokehinde Folayemi said “Ikorodu Road (Mile 12, Ketu ) on fire again. Those boys have started again.”

A top police chief who craved anonymity told PM NEWS that policemen have been drafted to the area to maintain peace.

He said he heard that lives were lost but could not confirm it.

- PM NEWS

Ramos nets 100th goal as Madrid edge over Inter

 

Real Madrid captain, Sergio Ramos, nets his 100th goal for Los Blancos as they saw off stubborn Inter Milan 3-2.

The Spanish giants who needed to win the match having started their campaign with defeat at home to Shakhtar Donetsk and a 2-2 draw against Borrusia Monchengladbach started against Inter strongly.

Zidane’s men only needed 25 minutes to grab the lead in the match from a Benzema’s strike. 8 minutes after Ramos doubled the lead scoring his 100th goal for Real Madrid.

However, Inter were not going to easily give up as they roared back in the 35th minute. Lauturo Martinez pulled the visitor back into the match as the match ended 2-1 in the first half.

Inter continued to battle for their equalizer in the second half which they got in the 68th minute after Lauturo Marinez head the ball towards Ivan Perisic who easily lashed it into the net. 2-2.

However, Madrid had the final say as Rodrygo eventually scored the winning goal for the home side in the 80th minute.

Following Ramos 100th goal milestone, he marks as the second defender in Real Madrid’s history to score 100 goals after Fernando Hierro who scored 127 goals for Los Blancos.

- PM NEWS

Onyeama: Landlord threatening to eject Nigerian embassy in Hungary over owed rent

 

Godfrey Onyeama, the minister of foreign affairs, says the landlord of the building where the Nigerian embassy in Hungary is located is threatening to evict the embassy.

Onyeama was speaking while defending the ministry’s 2021 budget at the house of representatives in Abuja on Tuesday.

The minister said one of the challenges the ministry is facing is the movement of officers, ambassadors and their families.

He explained that the ministry needs N1.6 billion to move ambassadors and pay officers N3.7 billion, making a total of N5.3 billion for the whole movement.

The minister said there is a need to address the inadequate overhead budgetary provisions to the missions, which is resulting in a lot of debt for electricity and rent.

“Just on Monday, the ambassador in Hungary called to say they are going to throw them out from the chancery building. That the landlord is coming and that they do not have the money to pay,” NAN quoted him to have said.

“And we get that from a lot of missions across the world and that is not a sustainable way of running foreign service.

“Then this exchange rate differential with the CBN is really something we need to address once and for all.

“It is not so easy, all of these things are computed in naira and all the payments abroad are in dollars and once the exchange rate is changed, it never goes the other way, it always goes up, it never comes down vis-a-vis the dollar. This means immediate shortfall for all our missions.”

Onyeama said the federal government is making plans to reduce the number of international organisations Nigeria belongs to because of a scarcity of funds.

“We are owing a lot, and in the federal executive council (FEC), there is a process to rationalise and cut down on the international organisations we belong to,” he said.

“This is because we are just owing monies left and right and it is not even good for the image of the country.

“A lot of our missions are eyesores and it is just a huge embarrassment to the country that we can have missions in such terrible conditions.

“We have been receiving letters from the national assembly forwarding to us various claims and judgement and asking us to pay them.

“We have a big challenge with clothing allowances, as you know, all officers in our missions from grade level 7 and above are entitled to $2,500 clothing allowance per annum.

“In the 2021 budget, about 1,312 officers will be expecting the payment of these allowances and if you take at the CBN official rate, we are looking at N1.2 billion.

“What we have available is N762 million for that, to able to pay the clothing allowances, we still need an additional sum of N500 million.”

In July, Onyeama said the federal government is considering a review of embassy operations across the world.

- THECABLE

Restructuring: Yoruba group condemns Buhari’s stance, seeks UN, US support on secession

 

Yoruba coalition in the Diaspora, Yoruba One Voice (YOV) has expressed concerns over the “insensitive” response of President Muhammadu Buhari to calls for restructuring.

YOV announced that Yorubas may be pushed to secede from Nigeria.

The spokesman, Zacheus Somorin, in a statement on Tuesday, appealed to the members and organizations to commence the framework “for the review of the country’s structure”.

The reaction was a reply to comments by presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, that Buhari will not succumb to threats and undue pressure regarding devolution of powers.

Prominent Nigerians and groups including Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere, Southern and Middle Belt Forum, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Aare Gani Adams, among others, have reiterated their calls for Governors Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna on November 1 added their voice.

YOV said despite the fact the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Buhari rode on the wings of agitation in 2015 to earn votes, his body language shows that he is not in full support.

“We expected that this administration will collate, digest and present assurances to Nigerians that President Buhari will do the needful by rebuilding the country towards inclusivity on the altar of restructuring. But the government had other ideas wrapped in uncouth language. But Nigerians will not be shout down from making their points even in the face of threats.

“For a nation of over 200 million people, the incidents of the past weeks should have taught us that if any civil war happens in Nigeria, the casualties will be huge. That is why we are urging the UK, the US Congress, the Commonwealth, the British Parliament, and other international bodies, to superintend over the peaceful dissolution of the country.”

Somorin stated that the YOV has placed the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) on notice about their intentions; he said the Yoruba glory is being trampled upon based on how Nigeria is presently structured.

“It is clear that the current leadership of Nigeria is not, and has never been committed to the fundamental objectives and directives of the principles of statehood, policies of Federalism as enshrined in Chapter II of the Constitution that it derived its powers from. Our people are tired of terrorism, insecurity, hopelessness, injustice, killings, unemployment, inequality, corruption, scandals, violence, oppression, extortion, and assault.

“Our people are entitled to their inherent, inalienable rights to self-determination and dignity of their persons in accordance with Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human and Peoples Rights of 1948; Article 20 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, Article 1 of the International Convention Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.”

- DAILY POST

UK resident places £1m bet on Joe Biden

 

A UK resident has placed a £1 million on Joe Biden to be the next president of the United States.

According to CNN, the bet was placed on the Betfair Exchange, the world’s largest online betting exchange, where gamblers find other gamblers who match their wagers.

CNN said the identity of the bettor, who placed the wager on October 29, is not known.

If Biden emerges, he would win a £540,000 ($696,170) profit on top of getting the original £1 million wager returned.

The £1 million wager is tied for the third-largest bet in Betfair’s history, behind £1.1 million bet on tennis player Rafael Nadal in the 2010 French Open, and slightly more than £1 million bet on Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his 2017 match against Conor McGregor.

One of the largest political bet ever made on Betfair Exchange was a £555,000 bet made on Trump in 2016.

Someone else placed a £550,000 bet on Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The turnout of the election is unprecedented. As of the time polling stations opened on November 3, 100 million Americans had cast their ballots, using early voting.

In 2017, there were 47 plus million early voters.

- THECABLE

How Buhari deceived, duped Nigerians over Magu – HURIWA

 

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, on Tuesday, accused President Muhammadu Buhari of deceiving and duping Nigerians.

HURIWA made the remark in reaction to the ongoing corruption trial of Ibrahim Magu, suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The rights group claimed that Buhari’s government was “gambling with the sensitivities of Nigerians regarding the issues of alleged corrupt practices levelled against Magu.”

A statement by the National Coordinator of the frontline activist group, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said several months after a panel was set up to trial Magu, nothing has been heard.

According to Onwubiko: “It is clear that we have all been deceived and duped by the President Muhammadu Buhari- led administration into believing the ferry tales that it plans to fundamentally overhaul the hierarchy of the anti-graft body following the setting up of a judicial panel led by erstwhile President of court of Appeal Justice Ayo salami to probe accusations of corruption against Ibrahim Magu and some of his affiliates known as ‘Magu Boys’.

“It is now over several months since the panel was inaugurated and the then acting Chairman of EFCC Ibrahim Magu was suspended, arrested, detained for days and freed. But till date, the Federal government is yet to disclose the outcome of that panel even as the anti – graft body has remained without a substrate and is seemingly rudderless and directionless.

“Certainly, this government of Muhammadu Buhari has played on the gullibility of most people to think that it can get away with such monumental deception and lies.

“The government by this Orchestrated and choreographed delay in the investigation of EFCC under the suspended acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu has shown a total lack of commitments to battle corruption which has eaten deep into the affairs of Virtually all Federal agencies and ministries, some of which can not even meet up with the statutory obligation of paying staff salaries.”

- DAILY POST

4 COVID-19 deaths, 137 new cases in Nigeria

 Four persons died in Nigeria from COVID-19 related causes on Tuesday, while 137 new cases of infections were reported.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC released the data as it warned about imported COVID-19 from returning travellers.

The data showed almost 100 per cent increase in infections in the last 24 hours.

On Monday, 72 cases were reported, with Lagos accounting for 51

Lagos was still in the virus grip on Tuesday, reporting 60 of the new cases.

Abia followed with 21 cases, FCT Abuja 18 and Rivers 13.

“Till date, 63173 cases have been confirmed, 59634 cases have been discharged and 1151 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory”, NCDC said.

Unlike Monday, when only eight states and Abuja reported cases, 15 states featured Tuesday.

Nigeria is still wary about a possible second wave of the virus affecting the country.

Health minister Osagie Ehanire revealed on Monday that 18 out of the 78,000 returning travelers have tested positive for #COVID19.

The positive test came after a 2nd screening in Nigeria.

He said the Presidential task Force has initiated stringent measures to limit the risk of importing the virus via international travel.

“Increasing #COVID19 cases in parts of the world raises concern over importing the virus to #Nigeria”, added Chikwe Ihekweazu, the DG of NCDC.

“A 2nd wave is not inevitable & we can’t let down our guard just yet. We must play our part by adhering to recommended measures,” he said.

Here is a breakdown of the latest COVID cases

Lagos-60
Abia-21
FCT-18
Rivers-13
Kaduna-5
Oyo-4
Edo-3
Delta-2
Imo-2
Kano-2
Ogun-2
Bauchi-1
Gombe-1
Nasarawa-1
Niger-1
Osun-1

63,173 confirmed

- PM NEWS
59,634 discharged
1,151 deaths

Mbaka drops bombshell: Buhari surrounded by criminals, hooligans

 

Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, the Spiritual Director of Adoration Ministry, Enugu has dropped a bomshell, saying that President Muhammadu Buhari is surrounded by criminals and hooligans feeding him with magnified lies.

The controversial Mbaka was speaking during his ministration on Sunday.

He said Buhari, who could have been a solution to the problems facing Nigeria, succeeded in encircling himself with criminals and hooligans.

According to him, these people did not just tell him lies, but that they magnified the lies with NAFDAC number and fed him.

“Buhari, who could have been a solution to this, succeeded in encircling himself with criminals and hooligans. People, who do not just tell him lies but rather, they magnify lies; lies with NAFDAC number – and feed him,” he lamented.

Mbaka stated that he is not fighting the government, but bad governance that had faced the nation over time.

“This is not about #EndSARS or IPOB. Nobody is fighting any government; we are fighting bad governance,” he said.

Mbaka disclosed that few days ago, at Miliken Hill, after New Market, in Enugu, people discovered corpses of those that were shot and killed during the recent protest by security operatives.

He said they just dumped people’s corpses there while families of those young men and women continued searching for them.

Mbaka said that is he is telling everyone that Nigeria could never be the same again.

He asked: “Did you expect these young men to keep watching the country being swindled and looted dry by the so-called leaders?”

- PM NEWS

Looting: Lagos pledges tax break for business owners affected by #EndSARS crisis

 

The Lagos state government has promised to provide financial support for business owners whose stores were looted and vandalised during the #EndSARS crisis.

Following the shooting of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos on October 20, 2020, violence had escalated in the state, leading to looting and razing of government and private properties.

Speaking on Sunday during a meeting with tenants and shop owners at Circle Mall in Lekki, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, said the owners of vandalised stores would be given tax breaks, as well as other forms of financial support.

Sanwo-Olu, in a statement by Gboyega Akosile, chief press secretary to the governor, also urged the federal government to consider providing tax relief for the affected business owners.

“The Governor said Lagos State Government will give all business owners in the burnt Circle Mall tax break of PAYE and also appealed to Federal Government to ensure that they get tax relief from the Federal Internal Revenue Services (FIRS),” the statement read.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu said the State Government will give victims of the Circle Mall financial support, which will be in form of grant or loans to cushion the effect of the looting and destruction of their respective shops and stores.

“Sanwo-Olu said the grant support is a non-refundable financial support to the victims. He said the affected businesses are not expected to pay back while the lending support would be in form of a loan, adding that he is already discussing with some financial institutions to assist people with zero interest loans.

“Sanwo-Olu also asked the shop owners to reach out to the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) and urged them to make use of the opportunities being provided by the agency in assisting people who are in business, especially small-scale businesses.”

The governor also urged Lagos residents to ensure that they are “agents of positive change” in their respective communities, adding that “Lagos state will no longer tolerate hoodlums looting and destroying government and private businesses and properties.”

- THECABLE

2023 presidential election: Why APC may consider Amaechi, El-Rufai’s joint ticket

 Campaign posters of Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and Kaduna State Governor, have been seen in some parts of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The materials show Amaechi, a former Governor of Rivers State as presidential candidate, and Nasir El-Rufai, current governor of Kaduna State as vice presidential candidate.

The posters do not have the logo of any political party but carry the name of an organisation – ‘National Consolidation Movement’.

A source told DAILY POST that the possibility of the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains running together is high.

The politician close to the ruling platform as well as the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), gave reasons to buttress his position.

Citing insider information, he listed number one as Amaechi and El-Rufai’s unfettered access to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Others are network and contacts, incumbency as office holders, influence within the APC, and clamour for power to return to the South.

Analyzing why the South-South may get the nod, the source told citizens not to forget that the South-West has for thirteen years occupied the two topmost positions in Nigeria since 1999.

He feared that the South-East may face some objection in the APC due to skepticism about widespread acceptability, agitation for secession, electorate support, and war chest.

Although the party is in charge of Imo State, with stalwarts trying to gain more supporters in the region, it remains unclear if the nation’s leader is favourably disposed to an Igbo presidency in 2023.

In 2015, retired General polled 198,248 votes (of total 15,424,921) in the entire district, and 403,958 votes (of total 15,191,847) in 2019.

Reminded how the South-West, led by ex-Governor of Lagos State and APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, delivered the majority of votes for Buhari in both general elections, the source stressed that ticket zoning to the region is in doubt.

“President Buhari may not be opposed to Amaechi and El-Rufai’s ambition because as I speak, these two are part of the top five figures running the APC.

“(Kayode) Fayemi was considered but a Yoruba man governed Nigeria for eight years after we returned to democracy. Another is the incumbent VP – eight years in view. This factor knocks the Ekiti Governor out.

“I believe that any power shift will strongly consider the South-South and South-East. Options are being weighed. However, in terms of funds, voting figures and trend, local support, and the likes, South-South is ahead of South-East.

“Buhari and El-Rufai are close. The Governor was one of those who insisted the President contest again in 2015 after three attempts. Many would remember the efforts of Amaechi after he joined APC from the PDP late 2013.

“He is also close to Buhari, he was Director General of the President’s campaign twice and was successful. Things may change later but I believe Buhari will support their aspiration”, the politician said.

- DAILY POST

LCC: Our cameras stopped recording from 8pm on night of Lekki shooting

 

The Lekki Concession Company (LCC) has submitted a video footage recorded by its surveillance cameras on October 20, 2020 to the Lagos judicial panel on #EndSARS.

Abayomi Omomuwansa, managing director of LCC who made the submission to the panel on Tuesday, said the cameras stopped working from 8pm on the night of the shooting at the Lekki tollgate.

“I can confirm that inside here is the video footage that our surveillance camera was able to record for the 20th of October,” he said.

Soldiers reportedly opened fire on Nigerians who had gathered at the tollgate to protest against police brutality.

According to witnesses, about 15 people were killed and scores injured.

Omomuwansa said the surveillance cameras are called PTZ; wherein P enables the camera pan; T enables the camera tilt, and Z allows the camera to zoom.

He said they were mounted on a mast at the tollgate.

Omomuwansa said the cameras were initially not tampered with — not until around 8pm when they stopped recording.

The shooting was said to have started around 7pm.

“I can confirm categorically that we never ever tampered with that surveillance cameras. That’s why we can still get the footage. Until 8 o’clock when it was tampered with and we couldn’t get any footage anymore,” he said.

The judicial panel had visited the tollgate where the LCC assured it that the recording from its closed-circuit television system (CCTV) on the night of the incident was intact.

The company had also said the power outage on the night of the shooting was because its staff were withdrawn from office locations; hence they could not switch on backup generators when power was interrupted.

- THECABLE

How SARS officers threw trader Ndukwe Ekwekwe off 2-storey building

 

A trader, Ndukwe Ekwekwe has narrated to the Judicial Panel of Inquiry into SARS-related abuses how SARS officers arrested him in his shop, tortured him and threw him off a two-storey building in Lagos.

According to Ekwekwe, four SARS officers, led by Haruna Hamisu stormed his shop on February 16, 2018.

“I asked them what my crime was, but none of them told me. Other traders in the shopping complex equally asked the same question of the police officers. At a point, the police officers began to shoot to scare people away,” he said.

Ekwekwe said the police officers eventually took him away to ‘Area F’ police station, where the SARS office was.

At the station, the petitioner said he was beaten, stabbed in his hand and on his back, tortured, and dumped in a cell where the inmates subjected him to another round of beating.

The police officers reportedly took Ekwekwe to his shop the next day, February 17.

He also alleged that the officers broke into his shop and auctioned off his goods.

Ekwekwe said he protested to the officers, following which one of them pushed him off a two-storey building.

The petitioner said his spinal cord got broken and he was taken to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

He said he became crippled and damaged his bladder.

The petitioner told the panel that he now wears a diaper.

Ekwekwe’s mother, Mrs. Ibekwe, led him into the hearing room on a wheelchair.

The Panel Chairperson Justice Doris Okwuobi (retd) admitted hospital documents, X-rays, telephone numbers of the indicted officers and other documents tendered by the petitioners as exhibits.

Okwuobi thereafter adjourned further hearing into the petition till November 13.

- PM NEWS

#EndSARS advocate: Immigration seized my passport and stopped me from travelling

 

Modupe Odele, a member of the Feminist Coalition, says the Nigerian Immigration Service stopped her from travelling out of the country.

The Feminist Coalition is the promoter of the #EndSARS protest and it raised about N147 million for the cause.

Odele, a lawyer who was actively involved in the campaign, offered legal aid to persons who were arrested during the demonstrations.

In a newsletter on Monday, Odele narrated how she was stopped at the airport while on her way to the Maldives to celebrate her birthday.

She said the officer who accosted her said the action was ordered “from above”, and that she saw a “wanted poster” of herself on the officer’s computer.

The lawyer said she was detained and her passport seized.

“For my birthday, I had planned a trip to the Maldives. It was really for a break as the events of the last three weeks have exhausted my mind and body in a way I have never been exhausted in my life,” she said.

“I went to the airport, passed through immigration, and while I was putting my bags through the body and baggage scanner, the immigration officer who had previously cleared me, called me back. He told me he had orders from above to detain me.

“Okay, at this point I’m like excuse me, my flight is in an hour. On what grounds are you detaining me?” He didn’t respond. Instead, he goes to his computer where he typed in my name and something that looked like a ‘wanted poster’ popped up on the portal.

“He blocked my view so I couldn’t see most of it but I saw some of it. And it read something like – ‘This person is under investigation by XYZ Intelligence Agency. If seen, they should be apprehended on sight.

“They held me for a little over an hour, seized my passport and I missed my flight. My passport is still seized up until this very moment and I have still not been made aware of what I am under investigation for.”

In a Twitter post on Tuesday, Odele said she is safe and that she has been invited back with her lawyers.

“Hello everyone. Thank you so much. I’m fine and I’m safe. We haven’t confirmed yet why I was stopped on Sunday or by whom. But I’ve been invited back in with my lawyers today. I’ll update when I have more information but please don’t spread false news. That is dangerous,” she tweeted.

Efforts to reach spokespersons of the NIS and the Department of State Services (DSS) proved abortive as calls were not responded to, and a text sent to Peter Afunanya, DSS spokesman, was not replied to.

- THECABLE

2023: I’ll no longer fold my hands, I will take over from Buhari – Tunde Bakare

 

The founder of Citadel Global Church, Tunde Bakare, has declared his readiness to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari come 2023.

The cleric during his appearance as a guest on Arise Television show yesterday, insisting that as a citizen of Nigeria he has the right to run for any elective office.

“It is my fundamental right to run if I chose to. I mean every word I spoke. I cannot fold my hand or say well, let me continue to watch. No,” he said.

“I am a citizen of this country, born and bred here by the grace of God and I intend to contribute my quota. It is like a matter of life and death.”

The pastor said that he is ready to support the right people but also offering himself, hoping that Nigerians will support him, adding “I am not taking those words back. I have something to offer my country.”

“But it is all left for my country to say we want you because I cannot impose myself on them. I challenge right-thinking patriots to rise and let us join hands to fix our country. If God designs it that I will be the 16th president in 2023, I’m ready. I’m prepared.

Bakare said he has no word to impress anybody, adding that all he can guarantee is quality service.

According to him, he has been trained for over 30 years by God to be able to add value to this country.

- DAILY POST