My father was shot and dragged into police station, petitioner tells Lagos panel

 

Funmilayo Adeosun, a petitioner, has narrated how police officers attached to Olosan police station in Mushin axis of Lagos state allegedly shot her father and dragged him away in a pool of his blood.

Funmilayo, who identified herself as the daughter of Adesina Adeosun, the deceased, stated this while testifying before the Lagos state judicial panel on police brutality on Tuesday.

The daughter of the deceased said the incident happened at FanMilk junction, around Mushin axis of Lagos, on October 20, 2020, during the #EndSARS protest.

Adeosun told the panel that her father was shot in the back.

“I am his last born. He is a taxi driver. That day, I went to buy food for him. After eating, he said I should return the plate. Later, he said I should come and pick my child,” she said.

“The time was around 11am. As I was going away with my child, I met a friend on the way, and some boys were running down. I gave my child to my friend and the police started shooting. Boys were running helter-skelter, and I was shouting to call my father’s attention. When I was about to reach where my father was, I saw police officers rushing from Olosan station.

“Then, a policeman shot and the bullet entered my father’s back and he fell down. When he fell, some boys were about to carry him, but they were scared of gunshots and he had not died at that time. The boys told me that I should go and beg the policemen as a lady.

“The man was still there in pain. The policemen did not answer me. This continued till around 4pm, and when they saw that he was still struggling, the policemen dragged him inside their police station, but my dad kept waving, struggling in pain.”

Funmilayo, however, noted that her father died while in the custody of the police.

She also added that she knows the officers attached to Olosan police station who killed her father and refused to let people rescue him.

Also testifying before the panel, Kudirat, the first wife of the deceased, appealed that the corpse of her husband be released to the family, and that financial compensation be awarded.

The case was adjourned till March 19, 2021, for further hearing.

- THECABLE

Emefiele under fire for view on cryptocurrency

 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele has been under heavy fire online for describing cryptocurrency as money made out of thin air.

The CBN governor made this remark while briefing a joint Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions; ICT and Cybercrime; and Capital Market.

Emefiele said that cryptocurrency is used to describe the activities of players in an electronic dark world.

In a viral video of the governor’s address to the legislators, Emefiele said:

“Cryptocurrency is an electronic or digital currency that is issued by largely unknown, unregulated elements using computer codes that are basically meant to encrypt or hide information about the transactions and the operators”.

Emefiele also said that it is money made out of thin air and is used to describe the activities of players in an electronic dark world, where transactions are extremely black.

The CBN governor further said that people who deal in cryptocurrency transactions are those who do not want a trail and who cannot be trailed.

“I’m sure that these definitions are scary enough to create anxiety for any regulator or central bank in any part of the world.”

The CBN had ordered banks to close accounts of individuals that transact in cryptocurrency and stopped them from providing support for crypto firms.

The embargo on cryptocurrencies and the governor’s remark to legislators has led Nigerians especially youths on Twitter to blast the CBN governor.

I am shocked by the CBN governor briefing on Cryptocurrency.

This here is why Nigeria economy is in a total mess.

Visiting https://t.co/7Y5PgCvQS2 would have resolved this ignorance that crypto is from the thin air.

 pic.twitter.com/xg3Lb2E9NX

— Tosin Olugbenga (@TosinOlugbenga) February 25, 2021

When I saw CBN Governor trending, I knew nothing good could be happening.

He said cryptocurrency is made out of thin air but forgot we were made out of dust, almost thin air too.

This Naija na movie wey you go need settle down with Fearless Energy Drink to watch

— AdewalePresh (DJ Cuppy Future Husband) ❼ (@sarcasm_presh) February 25, 2021

I have never seen a better definition of disaster than the CBN Governor coming on National TV to say that cryptocurrency is created from thin air. Even my 7yr old Nephew knows the history of money and the evolution of the legal tender.

— Wale Adetona (@iSlimfit) February 25, 2021

That CBN Governor is very unintelligent
From that his speech you can see why our economy is where it is right now
He couldn’t even use Google to carry out his research on Cryptocurrency he just read everything from Jehovah witness manual

— Roviel  (@ObongRoviel) February 25, 2021

The CBN was pushing for Cashless policy before. We accepted and embraced cryptocurrency. Now CBN Governor says its money created out of thin air because they dont get their stupid charges from the transactions. You go finish one pack of Bigi watching naija as a movie

— Salman (@NotJustSalmanPR) February 25, 2021

#Cryptocurrency will remain a means of exchanging values without border in this 21st century, and what every CBN Governor in every country can do is to create policies to benefit from it.

Every medium of exchange is vulnerable to fraud, either a banking system or #Bitcoin.

— Ayemojubar (@ayemojubar) February 25, 2021

 - PM NEWS

IMF: Developing countries at risk of languishing for years

 

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), says there is a major risk that most developing countries will languish for years to come.

In a blog post on Wednesday, Georgieva encouraged advanced economies to take strong policy actions to prevent great divergence between them and low-income countries.

The IMF boss said the institution sees an accelerated difference within countries, with the youth, the low-skilled, women and informal workers losing their jobs, and millions of children facing disruptions to their education.

“As our note to the G20 meeting points out, there is a major risk that as advanced economies and a few emerging markets recover faster, most developing countries will languish for years to come. This would not only worsen the human tragedy of the pandemic, but also the economic suffering of the most vulnerable,” she said.

According to Georgieva, there is a need for much stronger international collaboration to hasten the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in poorer countries.

“We know that the pandemic is not over anywhere until it is over everywhere. While new infections worldwide have recently declined, we are concerned that multiple rounds of vaccinations may be needed to preserve immunity against new variants,” she said.

She further noted that the economic crisis can be tackled through continued fiscal support by G20 governments to help maintain livelihoods, as well as monetary policy support by major central banks which has enabled several developing economies to regain access to global capital markets.

However, she warned that continued monetary policy support may invite consequences such as excessive risk-taking and market exuberance.

She also urged G20 countries to step up support to vulnerable countries through additional concessional financing, while leveraging private finance through stronger risk-sharing instruments.

- THECABLE

Jigawa: Gov Badaru assents law prescribing death sentence for rapists, kidnappers

 

Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Muhammad Badaru Abubakar has signed into law Violence Against Person Prohibition bill.

DAILY POST had reported that the Jigawa State House of Assembly has passed into law a bill for the prohibition of violence against persons.

The Governor said the law will help in reducing the rate of crime in the state.

Badaru said the bill was assented after consulting with the council of Ulamas that the new laws are not in conflict with Islamic laws and culture of Jigawa people.

“The new laws stipulated in the bill include; Death sentence for male or female rapist or life sentence without the option of fine. Anyone who aides or gives order to rape another person shall receive a death or life sentence.”

“The use of political thugs attracts four years imprisonment for perpetrators and the use of indecent or pornographic pictures for advert in public places shall attract three months imprisonment with an option of N10,000 fine.”

“Kidnappers shall also receive death sentence.”

Badaru commended the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Musa Aliyu, and the state council of Ulamas for their contribution to the passage of the bill.

- DAILY POST

Australia passes law to make Google, Facebook pay for news

 

Australia’s parliament passed a law on Thursday to make Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc pay media companies for content on their platforms.

Countries such as Britain and Canada are said to be studying the law to replicate it.

After robust negotiations in which Facebook blocked all news content in the 13th-largest economy, the vote makes Australia the first nation where a government arbitrator can set the price tech giants pay domestic media if private talks fail.

“The code will ensure news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, helping to sustain public interest journalism,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said in a joint statement

Facebook’s news ban, which also blacked out many nonprofit and government pages, including those of public health agencies promoting reliable information about COVID-19, would be lifted the following day, Frydenberg added in a radio interview, eight days after the measure took effect.

The new law sets the stage for a dispute-handling process largely untested in corporate Australia, should negotiations between Big Tech and media companies fail. Its progress will be closely watched globally.

Both sides claimed victory after Australia offered Facebook some concessions, including government discretion to release the tech giants from arbitration if they can prove a “significant contribution” to the domestic news industry.

The revised code also allows the tech companies a longer period to cut media deals before the state intervenes. It will be reviewed within a year of taking effect, the joint statement said, but gave no start date.

For months Facebook and Google threatened to pull core services from Australia if the law took effect. But in the days before the vote, and before Facebook blocked news, Google struck some deals with publishers News Corp.

Several large Australian media companies, including Seven West Media, Nine Entertainment and the Australian Broadcasting Corp have said they were in talks with Facebook.

- PM NEWS

SHIEK OF CRIMINALS !! Gumi to journalists: Don’t call bandits criminals if you want them to surrender

 

Ahmad Gumi, Islamic cleric, says Nigerian journalists are “criminals” for describing the activities of bandits as criminality.

Speaking when he featured on Arise Television on Thursday, Gumi said the media is adding to the insecurity problem by the names they use in describing the bandits.

He said if the media wants them to surrender, they should not be castigated and referred to as criminals but rather, nice words should be used to describe them.

“You’re emphasising on criminality, even the press are criminals too because they are putting oil into fire. These people are listening to you, you should not address them as criminals if you want them to succumb,” he said.

“Youths are ready to put down their weapons, now you are calling them criminals. How do you want them to cooperate? So you have to show them they are Nigerians, that they should not hurt children, be law-abiding. This is the language we want to hear, the press should assist us in getting the boys.

“You see when we talk with them with nice words, they are ready to listen to us, put down their weapons but when the language is about criminality, killing them, then this is what we will keep having.”

Citing the recent threat made by Niger-Delta militants, he said Nigeria is facing a nationwide problem and that the country should listen to their demands and strike out the word “criminality”.

“Let me show you something, I don’t wish you harm but if you are stopped by armed robbers on the road, you will not use the word criminal on them. Tell them good things so that you will save yourself. We are trying to save the nation from these youths that have a false sense of authority. The language we use is very important,” he said.

“We have a problem now, proliferation of arms, and there are drugs and semi-illiterate population. How do you deal with it? By castigating them and abusing them in the media?

“You’re talking to yourself, they don’t even listen to you so the best for us is the clergymen, the respected people, elderly try to reach them. Put sense into them, when you go, they lower their heads, they will listen, they will start giving excuses, accept their excuse but show them the way out. We are trying to nurture them out of this criminality.

“You have the power of media, you should use it to bring people together not try to spread things that divide people.”

He said the attacks have subsided, saying “even the Maiduguri case, I don’t think it is a big threat because the military has surrounded the town”.

“There is no continuous bombardment, just sporadic attacks. But yet, negotiations are important in seeing that we get these boys or youths, get sense into their heads. Just admonish them and show them the fear of God and it will also work,” he said.

- THECABLE

Minister of Information, govs now speaking for terrorists – Aisha Yesufu

 Aisha Yesufu, popular activist, has accused state governors and Minister of Information of speaking for terrorists.

Yesufu, a co-convener of BringBackOurGirls, BBOG, advocacy group, also accused religious rulers of speaking for terrorists.

She stated this while speaking at the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, annual law week in Calabar, Cross River State.

Yesufu said professional bodies should wake up to its responsibilities of defending citizens.

She said: “Terrorists have governors speaking for them, they have the Minister of Information, religious rulers all speaking up for them. Who do citizens have speaking up for them?

“The professional bodies, most especially the NBA must wake up to its responsibilities.”

Yesufu’s comment is coming at a time bandits and killer herdsmen have been on rampage across the country.

Amid the abductions by bandits, popular Islamic cleric, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi had met with them in their hideouts.

After meeting the bandits, Gumi had said the federal government knows their hideouts.

However, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed had said the government can not destroy forests where bandits use as hideouts to carry out their criminal activities.

Mohammed had claimed the ecosystem would be affected if the government decides to destroy forests where the bandits camp.

- DAILY POST