Free Speech : 44 Civil Rights Groups Vow To Shut Down Nigeria Over Insecurity, Buhari Government’s Clampdown On Free Speech

 

The coalition, in a statement titled ‘State of the Nation: A Call to Action’ and signed by all 44 members, on Thursday, decried how the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government had ignored its demand that it should provide good leadership amid the growing insecurity and other crises in the country. he Civil Society Joint Action Coalition, a coalition of 44 civil rights groups, has vowed to shut down the country from Monday, May 26, 2021 along with other anti-government actions scheduled to express their displeasure with the state of Nigeria.

The coalition, in a statement titled ‘State of the Nation: A Call to Action’ and signed by all 44 members, on Thursday, decried how the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government had ignored its demand that it should provide good leadership amid the growing insecurity and other crises in the country.

It said, “We are appalled to note that in spite of our strongly worded statement, President Buhari’s government has failed to heed our call to fulfil his role as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and Nigeria’s democratically elected President. We are therefore left with no other option than to take action to drive home our call to the government.

“We are therefore calling on all Nigerians to register their displeasure with the state of affairs across the country by participating a national shutdown from Monday, the 26th of May, 2021, participate in solemn assemblies across the country to commemorate the 4th National Day of Mourning and Remembrance of Victims of Mass Atrocities on May 28th, 2021 and boycott all Democracy Day activities on May 29, 2021 in protest of the deplorable state of our democracy.

“We again call on the Federal and state governments to rise up to their constitutional duties as enshrined in S14(2)(b), to ensure the security and welfare of all Nigerians, and pull the nation back from the path of destruction.”

The coalition had in February called on the government to “end impunity for abuse of power and sectionalism through his appointments by balancing the need for competence with the federal character principle. In this way, he will demonstrate that every part of Nigeria matters as sectional appointments appear to fuel sectional violence.

“Take responsibility and end the persecution of the media and free speech both of which are foundations of a democratic state.”

Speaking on the level of insecurity in the country, it stated: “In the first quarter of 2021 (January to March), we recorded an all-time quarterly high of almost 2,000 fatalities from mass atrocities incidents across the country. This week, across the 6 geopolitical zones, there were escalated combustions of violence resulting in even more deaths.”

In February 2021, the had catalogued the assortment of mass atrocities plaguing the country.

The issues highlighted by the group include: “The unending war in the North East with our troops often bearing the brunt of this government’s security failures, gross injustices by President Buhari’s government against the Nigerian people such that peaceful protesters are threatened and attacked by the government’s security agents while terrorists carrying out mass murder, rape, maiming and kidnapping of Nigerians including women and children are feted, molly coddled, granted ‘amnesty’ and paid by the government and industrial scale kidnappings all across the country.”

The group had also asked the government stop the “terrorist herder attacks on unarmed farming communities and reprisal attacks in the face of government inaction and failure to bring the terrorist herdsmen and their funders to justice; large scale terrorist attacks in the North West irresponsibly tagged by the government as ‘banditry’ in a bid to downplay their criminality; extrajudicial killings by State Security agents in various forms; inter-ethnic violence; and menace of political cult gangs and ethnic militia.”

Entertainment : Baba Ijesha Maximum sentence must be passed on actor – FG

 

The case of Baba Ijesha defiling a teenager has gotten the attention of Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

In the past few days, heated arguments have ensued between entertainers in Nigeria as they expressed divergent views on the matter.

While some appeared sympathetic to Baba Ijesha’s plight, others are drumming support in the fight for justice for the defiled minor.

Dabiri-Erewa in a thread on Twitter described the act by Baba Ijesha as despicable.

She demanded support for the victim’s foster mother, Princess, noting that his plea should not be accepted and that maximum sentence must be passed on him.

Her tweet read: “ So despicable! The act by Yoruba actor, Baba Ijesha who defied a girl, at 7 and later at 14 years!! Who knows how many the paedophile could have damaged if he was not caught. I sponsored the violence against person’s law. The penalty is nothing less than 14 years in prison.

“His plea bargain on some video I watched should not be acceptable. We should all do all we can to support the girl’s foster mother, Princess, to ensure this case goes to court, fully tried and maximum sentence passed on him.”

Meanwhile, the Lagos Police Commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu, on Thursday, while giving update on the matter said the allegation against Baba Ijesha was on sexual and indecent assault which is bailable, and not defilement.

He debunked news that Baba Ijesha would be released soon, adding that he was still being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, pending legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

 

BIAFRA NEWS : IPOB alleges secret killing of Biafrans in Akwa Ibom, Benue

 

The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the military and security operatives of allegedly killing innocent Biafrans in Essien Udim Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom and some parts of Benue states.

It said the army had claimed their victims were the phenomenal unknown gunmen behind the spate of attacks against security formations in the region.

 

In a statement from the Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB said the action had exposed the military’s hypocrisy and their backers within the Foreign and Commonwealth office in London.

 

The statement partly reads: “We, the Indigenous People of Biafra of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to bring to the attention of the world how Nigeria government and her security operatives are massacring innocent Biafrans in Essien Udim Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State.

 

“In February, it was Orlu in Imo State where civilians were massacred using the same aircrafts supplied by western allies to aid the fight against Boko Haram and other forms of Fulani terrorism.

“Now it’s Essien Udim in Akwa Ibom. But an Islamic cleric has been dinning and wining with terrorists, taking pictures with them, yet the double-faced military cannot use the same aircraft to trace and bomb the location of these Fulani murderers.”

BIAFRA NEWS : IPOB Renames Imo Government House, Others After Late ESN Commander, Demands Official Compliance

 

While Nigeria’s security agencies claimed Ikonso was killed in a gun battle at ESN camp, the IPOB said he was murdered in his father’s camp while sleeping.  

The Indigenous People of Biafra has demanded that the Imo State Government House should be named after the Eastern Security Network commander, Ikonso killed by the security operatives on Saturday.

The group stated further that Douglas Road and Awomamma Junction where the joint operation that brought an end to his life happened should be named after him.

 

Ikonso and other six members of the ESN were killed by the operatives of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police and the State Security Service on Saturday, though there have been conflicting accounts of how he was killed. 

While Nigeria’s security agencies claimed Ikonso was killed in a gun battle at ESN camp, the IPOB said he was murdered in his father’s camp while sleeping.

The IPOB, through a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful on Wednesday said Ikonso must be immortalised for his bravery in defending the people of Imo state against the terror of killer Fulani herdsmen.

In the statement entitled, ‘Imo Government House, Douglas Road Owerri Named After Ikonso The Brave ESN Commander Murdered By Nigeria Security Agents – IPOB,’ the group said all governmental institutions in the state must comply to re-christen such places after its fallen commander.

“We the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Biafrans worldwide ably led by our great and indomitable leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to announce to the world, our unanimous decision to rename the Imo State Government House, Douglas Road Owerri, and Awomamma Junction after the late heroic Commander of the Eastern Security Network (ESN), Ikonso, murdered in cold blood by cowardly Nigeria security operatives.

“The affected places will henceforth be called Ikonso Government House, Ikonso Way and Ikonso Junction respectively. This is with immediate effect and compliance is required of all ministries and parastatals beginning from today, the 28th day of April 2021.

“This decision is one of the ways IPOB members and Biafrans all over the world have agreed to immortalise the name of our brave Ikonso and his men killed by callous cowardly Nigeria security agents that flee from terrorists and bandits but derive pleasure in killing unarmed Biafra agitators.

“Ikonso and other fallen heroes with him did nothing to warrant their summary extrajudicial execution. They made the supreme sacrifice in defence of our ancestral land against Fulani terrorists, jihadists and killer herdsmen. Biafra shall never forget them.

“We, therefore, expect maximum cooperation from relevant government agencies, officials and the Imo State House of Assembly because we don't know who this Douglas is (such) that a road in Owerri was named (after him) but we know who Ikonso was. He defended Imo State with his life, for without him, most Imo indigenes would be in Internally Displaced Persons' camps by now courtesy of Fulani terrorists,” the statement read.

Covid-19 : India’s worsening Covid crisis is a dire problem for the world

 

The catastrophe unfolding in India appears to be the worst-case scenario that many feared from the Covid-19 pandemic: unable to find sufficient hospital beds, access to tests, medicines or oxygen, the country of 1.4 billion is sinking beneath the weight of infections.

The two opposed assumptions of the global response to coronavirus – wealthy countries in the west prioritising vaccines for their own need in one camp, and the argument led by the World Health Organization for global vaccine equality in the other – are also failing to hold as the scale of the crisis in India points to an urgent need to prioritise the response there.

With the global supply of vaccines unlikely to pick up until the end of this year, what is required now is international leadership and a recognition that, despite the best intentions of the World Health Organization and the vaccine-sharing Covax initiative to fairly distribute jabs, the pandemic may require a period of more focused firefighting where difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions need to be made.

That will require countries to look beyond their own health crises to see that the pandemic could still get much worse without intervention. Experts have repeatedly warned that allowing the virus to circulate unchecked increases the risk that dangerous new strains will emerge and prolong the pandemic.

Models already exist for what could be done, including George W Bush’s initiative to fight Aids in Africa under the president’s Emergency plan for Aids relief and the 2014 global response to Ebola in West Africa, which was seen as an international priority.

The reality is that the magical thinking displayed by the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government – which claimed the pandemic was in its “endgame” in March as the country careened towards a second wave of infections – was not much different from the mistakes of other leaders, including the former US president Donald Trump, who thought the virus would simply disappear, or the mistaken boosterism of the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson.

What is different in India – a country with a fragile health system and even weaker surveillance – is the huge possibility for harm locally and globally, perhaps on a scale not yet seen in the pandemic.

 

BIAFRA : Killing of ESN commander, Ikonso Don disastrous – Ohanaeze

 

 

The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has described the killing of a top commander of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, Ikonso Don as a disaster.

 reports that this was contained in a statement by the Secretary-General of the organization, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro.

He said the killing had made Ikonso a martyr and further worsened the tensed security situation in the Southeast zone.

Isiguzoro while questioning the circumstances surrounding the killing of the IPOB member, declared that “we have taken time to study the entire situation before issuing this statement and we feel that many questions are left unanswered.

“There are strong counter claims that Ikonso was not killed during a gun duel contrary to the statement by security agencies. And our question is: why kill a man you have taken captive? Why did they not arrest and prosecute him in a court of competent jurisdiction?

“So, we are questioning the circumstances surrounding his death. Ikonso should not have been killed. His death has huge consequences because he has been made martyr, a hero, you can even see that the IPOB said they have renamed the Imo Government House after him.

“The escalation of violence we are witnessing in the Southeast now won’t be happening if they didn’t kill him. Southeast is now at the mercy of herdsmen and unknown gunmen.”

 

He accused federal government forces of trying to recycle violence in the Southeast, wondering why the zone should be so militarized whereas people still moved freely in the Northeast.

“Military action is not the solution, they should withdraw troops from the roads. What the Federal government must do at the moment is to give the Southeast governors all the support they need. We are not seeing it at the moment, federal forces are rather making things difficult for them. The governors should take the lead with the Federal government supporting them.

“The Federal Government must also end all forms of marginalization of the Southeast, that’s why the youths are very angry. We have started the process of restoring peace, we are talking with all stakeholders, every party, but the Federal Government should stop aggravating matters.”

 

He equally berated “Abuja politicians” from the zone, accusing them of keeping silent while the people were being slaughtered.

“All of them have failed Ndigbo, they have not just refused to join in search for solution but are keeping grave silence. Even those of them close to the President are not telling him the truth. They have all relaxed in Abuja while their home is burning, but they must know that if this fire is not quenched, nobody will escape,” he cautioned.

Coronavirus Vaccine : Covid-19: India records highest daily cases amid oxygen shorteage

 

India has shattered a global record of daily coronavirus cases, reporting a grim 314,835 new infections in the last 24 hours.

India further recorded 2,023 additional deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 15,616,130 infections and the death toll to 182,553 people, according to data released by the health ministry on Thursday.

There are 2,157,538 active cases in the country, with an increase of 125,561 cases through to Tuesday, while 13,276,039 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals.

At least 22 patients died due to a low oxygen supply after a leakage in the oxygen supply tank of a civic hospital in India's Nashik town, around 167 km from Mumbai.

India's COVID-19 vaccine capacity has been severely affected as the U.S. has restricted exports of more than 30 key vaccine raw materials by leaving the critical raw materials needed for vaccine production to local manufacturers in February, which will further exacerbate the epidemic in India.

Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Serum Institute of India, on April 16 tweeted a post, saying that the U.S. needs to lift the vaccine raw materials export ban.

"If we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administration has the details," he wrote.

The export ban has drawn criticism from several Indian media outlets.

Scroll, an independent Indian media website reported on April 19 that India's COVID-19 vaccine production lines will be halted within a few weeks if the U.S. does not provide key raw materials.

Zee News criticized the crucial raw material export ban imposed by the Biden Administration as "an act of vaccine mafia".