New Telegraph

Fire of self-determination burning across Nigeria –MASSOB

Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has described the deteriorating situation of Nigeria as irredeemable, adding the widespread #EndSARS protests across the country as an awakening for all Nigerians.

The separatist group in a statement signed by its national leader, Comrade Uchenna Madu said, “reality just dawned on Nigerians, particularly the vast youth population of the country and they came face to face with facts and the facts on ground are by no means palatable.

 

“What you see happening in Nigeria today is not just about the Police, yes SARS gave Nigerians the lever they are going to pull to address a variety of other inherent evil being consciously perpetrated by the provincial and bigoted leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

“Nigerian youths have therefore taken their fate into their hands and the protests across cities of Nigeria are the fire of self determination burning across the country and there will be no stopping the emergence of a new order when this fire is done.”

 

Madu maintained that the parasitic virus affecting the Nigeria state has eaten so deep into its bones and marrows that Nigeria as a country has been confined permanently on a sick bed.

 

He maintained that Nigeria is sitting on a time-bomb and those whose responsibility it is to navigate the country out of disaster is blinded by their clandestine ethno-religious agenda.

 

He remarked that the protests going on across the Southern and Middle belt regions of the country marks the beginning of the end of what is left of Nigeria by serialized misrule.

“President Muhammadu Buhari and his ethnic cabals are the real SARS terrorizing the Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria. “This protest has justified the struggle for the actualization and restoration of Biafra which MASSOB started; our consistency in the Biafra struggle has yielded positive fruits in Nigeria.

 

This protest has exposed the fraud engraved in the foundation of Nigeria which will no longer stand. The citizens are now fully conscious of their existence and now wish to redress them and self-determine their fate in the contraption called Nigeria,” he said.

 

Ogun sets up panel to investigate police brutality, human rights abuse

 

Olufemi Adediran ABEOKUTA

 

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun has set up a Panel of Investigation on alleged cases of police brutalities against residents of the state.

 

The governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Kunle Somorin in Abeokuta yesterday, disclosed that the panel when inaugurated would be charged with the responsibility of investigating complaints of police brutality, human rights violations and related extra-judicial killings.

 

The panel, which is headed by Justice Solomon Olugbemi (rtd), is expected to evaluate evidence presented by any complainant and recommend compensation and other remedial measures, where appropriate.

 

Hoodlums attack protesters in Osun,

 

injure one

 

Hoodlums wielding cutlasses on Saturday morning attacked protesters around the Olaiya Junction in Osogbo, the Osun State capital. One of the protesters simply identified as Oloyede was reportedly macheted by the thugs. The hoodlums also dispersed the protesters but they were said to have gone to regroup around Technical College Area. The #EndSARS protests have been taking place across major cities in the country with youths demanding an end to police brutality and killings.

 

Prayer Walk holds across Nigeria

Following the #EndSARS protests against police brutality and human rights violations, Nigerians across the country staged a prayer walk on Saturday seeking divine intervention on the state of the nation. In Minna, youths under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Group embarked on a peaceful protest to demand an end to insecurity in Nigeria.

 

A co-convener of the protest, Mohammed Etsu decried the spate of killings by bandits in many parts of the state, and the seeming inability of security agencies in providing a lasting solution to the problem. They called on the government to listen to them because the future of Nigeria lies on their shoulders, and they do not want to inherit a country that has been bastardized.

 

Carrying placards, they converged on the Minna City Gate before embarking on a long walk to the popular Mobil Roundabout chanting songs of freedom. In Rivers, residents of the state converged at Garrison in Port Harcourt Local Government Area to pray for Nigeria and against all forms of brutality by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The gathering however didn’t start at the earlier scheduled venue, Pleasure Park.

 

From Garrison, the group moved to Government House where they converged for worship and prayers, seeking God’s intervention to end all forms of oppression in the nation. In Imo State, residents of the state across the 27 local government area of gathered at strategic locations in Owerri to pray for Nigeria under the theme OWERRI PRAYER WALK #OWERRI PRAYS.

 

They gathered as early as 7:00 am singing Worship songs and praying. While some gathered at Government House roundabout, some gathered at popular Assumpta roundabout and Freedom Square roundabout. And in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, youths from different churches took to the streets to seek the face of the Lord in finding spiritual solutions to the socio-economic and political crisis in the country.

 

The youths carrying the national flag joined hands to offer prayers for peace, unity, meaningful change and development in the polity. Also in Delta, youths in the state mobilized themselves as they staged a prayer walk asking God to heal the nation. They gathered at the Interbau roundabout in Asaba, walking and praying through the Nnebisi road in the state capital.

 

APC Youths ask for ceasfire

Johnchuks Onuanyim ABUJA

 

A group under the umbrella, All Progressives Congress (APC) Young Stakeholders, has urged protesters currently occupying major streets across the country for the end of SARS to ceasefire and go back home to form civil organizations which will engage the government.

 

The group also said Nigerians should not see the ongoing protest as a point of venting anger against the government of President Muhammad Buhari, adding that the brutality of the police does not recognise political affiliation when it occurs. Briefing the media at the National Secretariat of the party on Saturday in Abuja, spokesperson of the group, Aliyu Yusuf Shehu, acknowledged the genuineness behind the agitation and commended the protesters for their resilience.

However, he said the government has made a lot of concessions and that there is need to halt the protests to allow for implementation of government plans. Shehu said: “While we are aware that the decades of mistrust between our leaders and the led has left little room for us to trust these promises of the government, we must also realise that some of these demands will take time to manifest.

 

We are using this medium to appeal to our fellow young Nigerians to consider pause of the protest while we give reasonable timelines and deliverables acceptable to both the people and the government to see these demands materialize. “It is time to give the government a chance to work on these promises. Any further discomfort or even loss of life cannot be justified. We ask our fellow youths, to please leave the streets for their houses and place of work or businesses. We ask them to stop putting themselves and others at risk.

 

 

Motorists stranded in Benin

Cajetan MMUTA BENIN

Thousands of protesters, again yesterday took residents and traders by surprise as they barricaded major roads and streets within Benin the Edo State capital.

The protest had turned violent as they looted shops even as they unleashed terror on unsuspected traders and commercial bus drivers plying Ring Road, Akpkpava, New Benin, Ikpoba Hill and Second East Circular roads.

Shops, filling stations, and business centers located along the roads were forced to close shops abruptly following the daring activities of the protesters. At the University of Benin main gate, Ugbowo Campus, , they converted part of the Benin-Lagos Expressway, specifically under the pedestrian bridge into a kitchen where they cooked and ate jollof rice.

 

The food, according to them was donated by an unnamed individual to be cooked and shared during the protest. Already, the state Commissioner of Police, Babatunde Kokumo has ordered operatives of the Homicide Department of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) to begin a full scale investigation into the immediate and remote cause of Friday’s killing of a protester by suspected hoodlums in the state capital. He promised: “To arrest the perpetrators of this dastardly act for prosecution in court accordingly SARS..

Ugwuanyi sets up panel to investigate police brutality, extra-judicial killings

 

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, on Saturday, for the second time in two days, addressed some youths in the state who were protesting against #PoliceBrutality in the country, announcing the setting up of a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to investigate complaints of police brutality or related extra judicial killings, as demanded by the protesters.

 

Governor Ugwuanyi who addressed the #EndSars protesters amid cheers, reiterated his endorsement to the state government’s position on the demands made by the protesting youth, disclosed that the panel will be chaired by a High Court Judge with two representatives of the Civil Society Groups and one retired Police Officer of high repute as members.

 

Other members of the panel, according to Ugwuanyi, include one youth representative, one student representative, a representative of the State Attorney General and another from the Human Rights Commission.

 

Rev Ukpai to Nigerians: Make your agitations non-violent

 

Kayode Olanrewaju

 

Against the backdrop of nationwide protest occasioned by the mounting tension in the country, a cleric and President of Uma Ukpai Evangelist Association, Rev. Uma Ukpai, has called on Nigerians to go about their protests, struggles and agitations in a non-violent manner.

 

This was as the international evangelist passionately appealed to them to apply the principle and philosophy of non-violence as a signpost in their agitations. Rev. Ukpai, who made the appeal at a media interactive session, noted that the crux of non-violence philosophy is a personal practice of being harmless to one self and others under every condition.

 

Protesters mustn’t succumb to threats, intimidation -Timi Frank

 

Chukwu David ABUJA

 

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has called on youths protesting against the atrocities of the recently dissolved Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police not to be intimidated to abandon the cause.

 

Frank, who made the call through a series of tweets on his verified Twitter handle at the weekend, observed that the EndSARS protests have continued to spread through some major state capitals and cities in the country.

 

He urged the protesting youths not to back down, amid intimidation coming from security agencies and some top officials of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The politician also advised all protesters not to be cowed by the oppressive antics of security agents and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Security Committee which purportedly banned street protests in Abuja.

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