There is tight security at the premises of the Federal High Court Abuja leading up to the trial of Nnamdi Kanu.
Journalists at the entrance to the court are barred by officers of the Department of State Service from entering the court on the ground that they were not accredited to cover the trial.
The media organisations the DSS accredited are Daily Post, ThisDay, Premium Times, The Nation, Daily Independent, The Herald, National Television Authority, Television Continental, African Independent Television and Channels Television.
The DSS did not give reasons for picking 10 media houses while barring others from covering the trial.
A call to the DSS spokesman, Dr. Peter Afunnaya, rang out, while a text message sent to him on the action of the secret police had yet to be responded to as of the time of writing this report.
Days after arrest of embattled Yoruba Nation agitator Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho at the Cardinal Bernardin International Airport, Cotonou Benin Republic, the legal battle which would determine his release, will be decided on Monday(Today).
In a virtual session monitored by newsmen, they (Igboho’s supporters) are planning to throng the court where the hearing will hold.
Clarifying the court proceedings, Ibrahim Salami, a Beninese Yoruba and law lecturer, during an interview monitored by newsmen explained Igboho has two more stages before his freedom will be decided.
Salami explained: “In Benin here, there are three stages (judicial protocol) of trial.
“The next phase is on Monday. The first phase with the prosecutor has been concluded.
“When we get to court on Monday, we will be facing the investigation judge, and after that, we will face the judge that will determine whether he should be sentenced or not.
“Before the end of Monday, we will know if the Benin Republic government wants to jail or release him. That will be clear on Monday.”
The Chairperson, ASUU, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Dr. Ibrahim Inuwa, stated this while speaking with select journalists at the Union’s Secretariat.
He said, “Renegotiation of the 2009 agreement which would have been completed within eight weeks from the date of inauguration of the committee has up till now not been concluded, even though the Committee was inaugurated since December 2020.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria willingly agreed that the UTAS will replace the IPPIS as a payment platform in Federal Universities after it passed an integrity test. However, soon after the agreement, agents of the FGN are doing everything possible to frustrate the coming of UTAS onboard.
“Meanwhile the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation through the IPPIS office have continued to omit our members from payment of salaries while others experience serious salary amputation. We are convinced this is done in connivance with the University Administration through the distortion of our members’ personal details.
“In the meantime, IPPIS appears to be the corruption headquarters of the Federal Civil service, as exemplified by double payment of salaries to employees, payment of salaries to non-employees, over taxation, dubious amputation of salaries, etc.”
Inuwa declared that “Enough is enough. ASUU is fed up with deceptive antics of the federal government of Nigeria.
“The University Campuses are becoming restive across the length and breadth as Academics are threatening to shut down activities once again. This is coming as a result of the failure of the FGN to implement many aspects of the memorandum of Action it willingly signed with ASUU that ended the last strike in December, 2020.
“Given the glaring and deliberate failure of Government to honour the agreement it willingly signed with the Union, it is becoming obvious that industrial harmony is gradually being destroyed in the University Campuses.
“We, therefore, call on well-meaning Nigerians to wake up the FGN from its slumber to avoid another disruption of academic activities on Universities Campuses across the nation” adding that “the atmosphere is tensed and charged.”
The Director, Public Affairs Nigerian Communications Commission, Ikechukwu Adinde; and the Head, Corporate Communications, Nigeria Identity Management Commission, Kayode Adegoke, made this known in a joint statement, titled ‘FG Extends NIN-SIM verification deadline to 31st October, 2021′.
Before now, FG had approved the extension of the deadline for NIN-SIM data verification to July 26, 2021.
The statement read, “The Federal Government has approved the extension of the deadline for NIN-SIM data verification to October 31, 2021.
“The decision to extend the deadline was made following a request by stakeholders to accommodate registration in hard-to-reach remote areas, foreigners and diplomatic missions, diaspora and address low enrolments in schools and hospitals, as evidenced by enrolment statistics.
“It also followed a review of the progress of the exercise which indicated significant progress hence the need to consolidate the gains of the enrolment and NIN-SIM verification process across the country.
The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Justice Obiora Egwuatu in his ruling on the ex parte application before the court, ordered that the Department of State Service should produce the detained aides of Sunday Igboho in court on the next adjourned date.
Justice Egwuatu also ordered the DSS to show cause why the applicants should not be admitted to bail.
The matter was adjourned to July 29 to take place during the court vacation.
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and the Federal Government said this in a counter-affidavit they deposed to in response to an originating motion filed by human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, which was obtained by newsmen.
The government had on June 4, 2021, suspended Twitter barely two days after the social media platform deleted a tweet by the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
However, many Nigerians have bypassed the Twitter suspension by using Virtual Private Network.
Malami in a statement threatened to prosecute Nigerians still using the platform while the National Broadcasting Commission ordered all radio and television stations to stop using Twitter or picking content from the platform.
In an affidavit deposed to by Mr Ilop Lawrence on behalf of the Federal Government and the AGF, it was stated that the suspension of Twitter was not an abuse of human rights because Nigerians were still using Twitter despite the suspension.
It read in part, “The applicant (Effiong) and the class he seeks to represent can still operate those Twitter accounts from anywhere in the world and even from Nigeria. Nigerians are still tweeting, even at this moment as the ban on Twitter is not aimed at intimidating Nigerians or an infringement on the rights of Nigerians to express their opinion.
“The respondents (Federal Government and AGF) have never stopped the applicant (Effiong) and the class of persons he seeks to represent from voicing their opinions to access government information and offer criticism where necessary.”
NiMet`s weather outlook released in Abuja, forecast cloudy skies over the northern region on Thursday with chances of thunderstorms over parts of Sokoto State and Kebbi during the morning hours.
“Cloudy skies are anticipated over the North Central region, with prospects of rains over Niger, Nasarawa State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the morning hours.
“Progressing into the afternoon and evening hours, isolated thunderstorms are anticipated over parts of the FCT, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Nasarawa State and Plateau.
“The inland and the coastal cities of the South are expected to be cloudy with chances of rains over parts of Oyo State, Imo, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom during the afternoon and evening hours,” it said.
“Progressing into the afternoon and evening hours, isolated thunderstorms are anticipated over parts of the FCT, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Nasarawa State and Plateau.
“The inland and the coastal cities of the South are expected to be cloudy with chances of rains over parts of Oyo State, Imo, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom during the afternoon and evening hours,” it said.
“Progressing into the afternoon and evening hours, isolated thunderstorms are anticipated over parts of the FCT, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Nasarawa State and Plateau.
“The inland and the coastal cities of the South are expected to be cloudy with chances of rains over parts of Oyo State, Imo, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa Ibom during the afternoon and evening hours,” it said.
“The afternoon and evening hours should expect isolated thunderstorms over parts of the FCT, Nasarawa State, Plateau and Niger.
“The inland and the coastal cities of the south should be under cloudy skies in the morning.
“Later in the day, rains are expected over parts of Imo, Oyo State, Delta, Cross River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa,” it said.
In a statement released by the Press Secretary to the state Governor, Taiwo Adisa, the Implementation Committee of the Oyo state 2019/2020 Civil/Public Servants Audit and Payroll Re-Engineering/Validation Exercise had recommended the removal of 41 officers, who were classified as “no show”, from the government’s payroll.
The recommendations of the committee were based on a report by Messrs Sally Tilbot Consulting firm which was engaged by the Oyo State government in 2019 to carry out an audit into its employees and pensioners payroll.
It was revealed that Tilbot indicted 602 workers for irregularities, and recommended them for sanctions by the government.
However, it was observed by the 13-member implementation committee headed by Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Commission, D.O Olatunde, that 341 workers with irregular records out of the 602 had opted for voluntary retirement while 170 had systematically retired “due to no particular influence of the screening exercise”.
Forty officers were also cleared and absolved of any offence, while 10 officers on the list were found out to be dead.
In final recommendations of the committee it was advised that “40 officers should be absolved and allowed to remain on government payrolls, 170 officers who had retired systematically should be allowed on pension payrolls, and 10 deceased officers should be paid their due entitlements.”
Two armed men, including one who wielded a knife, attacked Mali’s interim president Assimi Goita in the great mosque in the capital Bamako, an AFP journalist saw.
The attack took place during prayers for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.
Goita has since been taken from the scene, according to the journalist, who said it was not immediately clear whether he had been wounded.
Religious Affairs Minister Mamadou Kone told AFP that a man had “tried to kill the president with a knife” but was apprehended.
Latus Toure, the director of the Great Mosque, said an attacker had lunged for the president but wounded someone else.
AFP was not immediately able to confirm the accounts.
He was arrested at an airport in Cotonou , a top source familiar with the matter told our correspondent.
Igboho was arrested by the security forces in Benin Republic about three weeks after the Department of State Services declared him wanted for allegedly stockpiling arms, an allegation he has since denied.
The source told newsmen that Igboho will be repatriated to Nigeria on Tuesday (today) from Benin Republic, one of Nigeria’s neighbouring countries in the West African sub region.
“He was arrested in Cotonou while he tried to travel out on Monday night. His destination was Germany. The security forces in Benin Republic should repatriate him to Nigeria on Tuesday,” the source said.
When contacted, a member of Igboho’s legal team, Pelumi Olajengbesi, said he would speak with the lead counsel, Yomi Aliyu (SAN), and revert later.
DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, did not respond to a text message seeking confirmation on the matter.
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