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Protesters leave Lagos ground, desert Abuja, Benin venues

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Protesters leave Lagos ground, desert Abuja, Benin venues

The few people who gathered at the Freedom Park in Lagos early in the day dispersed after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s broadcast.

The Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja was also deserted.

The popular Ring Road in Benin, centre of the protest since Thursday was cleared yesterday after the President’s broadcast.

The President told the protesting youths in his 25-minute address to the nation to call off their three-day-old action, saying he had heard them loud and clear.

Immediately after the broadcast, a disagreement broke out among the demonstrators at the Freedom Park in Lagos.

One of the leaders of the protesters announced to others the need to shelve the protest, having heard from the President.

He suggested that it should be put off till October 1 to give the President more time to evaluate the situation and take further action.

But a counter instruction was given almost immediately by other protesters, who said the President did not adequately address their demands.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Paul Okafor appealed to them to disperse because of the need for peace to reign in Lagos.

Thereafter, the protesters left in droves but the security agents remained on the ground.

Sanwo-Olu opens engagement channels

Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced channels of engagement, following the discontinuation of action by those protesting against economic hardship in the state.

The announcement was made in a statement by Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy.

It reads: “The Lagos State Government expresses appreciation to the protesters in Lagos for their peaceful conduct and their announcement of an end to their action following the broadcast by the president.”

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Praising leaders of the protest in the Centre of Excellence, the governor said: “Your stoppage of the protest today is a crystal clear affirmation of the fact that you know your collective voice has been heard by the government. What you have done is not only noble, but the civilised thing to do.

“In demonstration of the government’s commitment to continuous engagement with the youth, the governor has directed that despite the stoppage of the protest, the dialogue and engagements which the state government initiated prior to the action must continue.

“Consequently, Mr. Governor has directed Ministry of Youth and Social Development; Ministry of Information and Strategy and Office of Civic Engagement to immediately open wider channels of engagement with various stakeholders, including the protest leaders.

“The Executive Council members in charge of the ministries can be reached on the following dedicated Citizens Access lines:

. Office of Civic Engagement +234 802 522 4347

. Ministry of Information & Strategy +2348119655788

. Ministry of Youth & Social Development +2347077178295

“Now, it is fit and proper to, once again, warn our citizens to be very vigilant. Those who seek to divide us are yet to give up.

“They may continue to post fake news via audio and video channels. Lagosians must never give room to warmongering, scaremongering and rumour-mongering. That is not our way; that is not who we are. That is not our style.”

The statement quoted the governor as “praising Lagosians for rejecting anarchy and embracing peace”.

He also hailed the professional conduct of all security agencies, the Police Command, the Department of State Services, the military, Civil Defence, and Neighborhood Watch.

The statement further reads: “The governor notes with great pride the roles of our traditional rulers, civil society organisations, community leaders, religious leaders, students’ leaders and others, who ensured Lagos remained peaceful.”

Moshood Abiola Stadium deserted

The Nation correspondents, who monitored developments in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), observed that normalcy had returned.

The stadium where they were confined to by the court was empty as of 4 pm.

Security operatives, especially the police, were stationed at the venue to maintain law and order.

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A helicopter was hovering over the FCT for the better part of the day.

But all was quiet in the Federal Capital city.

Vehicular movement was easy but roads were largely empty.

It may also be because it was a Sunday when most people were indoors.

At every major intersection, security men were stationed to keep an eye on the environment.

Some of the few vehicles on the road, especially commercial vehicles, had leaves affixed on their windscreen, an indication that they were for peace.

Security around the Presidential Villa remained heightened.

The Kubwa-Zuba Motorway was free. Normal movement of traffic was observed.

Movement from Karshi town to other parts of the nation’s capital city was smooth.

Benin venue cleared

The protesters in Edo State yesterday suspended the protest after the President’s speech.

Immediately after the broadcast, the protesters  removed the podium at Ring Road, near the palace of the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Ewuare II.

Barricades on the major roads linking the ever-busy Ring Road were also cleared by the protesting youths, thereby paving the way for free vehicular and human movements by motorists and pedestrians respectively, without harassment or molestation of passersby and commuters, but policemen were on standby, in order to prevent the breakdown of law and order.

Church services at venues

In Osun and Plateau states, the demonstrators who insisted on continuing with the protest held church services at the venues.

At the popular Olaiya Bridge in Osogbo, Osun State where the service was held, leaders of the protest were collecting offerings from the demonstrators to make purchases.

“The reason for the offering is to enable us to get logistics for this protest. Anybody can drop his offering as we pass through the streets,’’ said one of the protesters who identified himself as Bishop.

“We are continuing the protest tomorrow (today). We are not backing down. The President has not addressed our demands,” Bishop added.

Emmanuel Olowu, secretary of the state’s Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) led the service.

His sermon was taken from Exodus 14 after the praise and worship session.

Olowu, who noted that God ordains leaders, including the president, governors and lawmakers, spoke about the essence of “good leadership and followers.”

According to him, both are synonymous with the country’s current predicament.

Olowu said Nigerians from different religious backgrounds “must come together to support the cause of entrenching good governance.”

Chairman of the Democratic Socialist Movement in the state, Alfred Alagbe, read Gen. 41:13 and Matthew 21:9-11.

At the end of the service at about 12:27 p.m, the protesters continued with the protest, chanting solidarity songs.

Soyinka: How  to handle protesters 

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, called on security agents to be tactical in the handling of the protests to avoid further fatalities.

Soyinka made the call in a statement he issued after President Tinubu’s address to the nation.

The statement was titled ‘’The Hunger March as Universal Mandate.’’

The Nobel laureate and global literature icon was also concerned that the President’s broadcast was silent on the actions of the security agents.

He cautioned against unprofessional conduct by security agents that could hurt protesters “who are merely asking for bread.”

According to him, a hard approach to the protests could lead to “more desperate upheavals.”

Soyinka said: “Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances; using it is certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest.

“Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S, not peculiar to the Nigerian nation.

“They belong, indeed, in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblasoned on posters.

“They serve as summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and, thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation,” he said.

Soyinka said the tragic response to the hunger marches in parts of the country constituted a retrogression that took the nation backwards.

The statement reads: “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.

“His outline of government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis.

“My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.

“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.

“Live bullets as a state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue.

“The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.

“It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late-stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera Bread and Bullets, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.

“The nation’s security agencies cannot pretend unawareness of alternative models for emulation, civilised advances in security intervention. Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the Yellow Vest movement in France?”

“Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum. In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun leveled at protesters, much less fired at them even during direct physical confrontations.

“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.

“The time is long overdue, surely, to abandon, permanently, the anachronistic resort to lethal means by the security agencies of governance. No nation is so underdeveloped, materially impoverished, or simply internally insecure as to lack the will to set an example.

“All it takes is to recall its own history, and then exercise the will to commence a lasting transformation, inserting a break in the chain of lethal responses against civic society.

“Today’s marchers may wish to consider adopting the key songs of Hubert Ogunde’s bread and bullets if only to inculcate a sense of shame in the continuing failure to transcend the lure of colonial inheritance where we all were at the receiving end. One way or the other, this vicious cycle must be broken.”

Protesters leave Lagos ground, desert Abuja, Benin venues

THE NATION

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Anambra council chairman arrested in US over $3.3m romance scam 

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Anambra council chairman arrested in US over $3.3m romance scam 

 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested Franklin Nwadial, a newly elected chairman of Ogbaru Local Government Area in Anambra State in Texas, United States (US), for allegedly running a $3.3 million romance scam.

The US Department of Justice said in a statement that Nwadialo is facing a charge of 14 counts and risks a 20-year sentence if found guilty.

The FBI reportedly arrested the 40-year-old LGA chairman on arrival in Texas.

“According to the indictment, Nwadialo used various versions of the name ‘Giovanni’ when he met his victims online on websites such as Match, Zoosk, and Christian Café,” the statement read.

“Nwadialo used false images for his profile and typically told the victims that he was in the military and deployed overseas so he could not meet the victims in person.”

Meanwhile, Newstrends reports that the Anambra State Government has given reasons why it cannot speak on the development.

In a report by The Nation, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Dr Law Mefor,was quoted as saying, “He was chosen by his people and the political party he belongs. He’s not an appointee of Soludo, therefore I cannot speak for his conduct.”

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I regret obtaining NDA form for Lagbaja, says family head

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Late Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Maj.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja

I regret obtaining NDA form for Lagbaja, says family head

Pa Tajudeen Lagbaja, the head of the family of the late Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja, is of the view that the gallant soldier would still be alive if he didn’t take up a career in the military.

He therefore expressed regrets obtaining Nigerian Defence Academic (NDA) form for the deceased.

He said he wouldn’t have obtained the form if he knew his life would be cut short.

Other family members who are still dazed by their illustrious son’s death alleged that he was killed diabolically because of a land dispute in his hometown, Ilobu community.

It will be recalled that there was a dispute in Ilobu, headquarters of Irepodun Local Government Area of Osun State in 2023, when delegates of the Nigerian Army planned to cite a hospital in the community.

Pa Tajudeen Lagbaja (younger brother of the late COAS’s father), disclosed that he obtained the NDA form for the late Lieutenant General.

Newstrends reports that Pa Lagbaja spoke with The Nation and was quoted as saying, “Everyone who is born must die. We give glory to God. The year that I obtained NDA form for him, if I had known that he would die before me, I would not have done so. I regret obtaining the form for him. But it is his destiny.

“The death that killed Taoreed Lagbaja ought to take me. I took him as one of my children.  We are greatly bereaved, we are sad. He constructed a borehole in his father’s compound and other places in the community.

“We can never forget him. Hs death is shocking to us. I have accepted the fate, all the promises he made to me have hit a brickwall. He always gave us hope in the family. Despite the sorrow, I give thanks to God.”

Another family member who identified herself simply as Madam Toyin, alleged that Lagbaja was killed diabolically because of a land dispute in the community.

Lt. General Lagbaja passed away on Tuesday night in Lagos following an illness, as announced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

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President Tinubu expressed profound sadness over the loss of a “dedicated servant of the nation” whose military career spanned over three decades.

Lt. General Lagbaja, born on February 28, 1968, was appointed Chief of Army Staff on June 19, 2023.

His service history includes numerous leadership roles in critical security operations such as Operation ZAKI in Benue, Lafiya Dole in Borno, and Forest Sanity across Kaduna and Niger States.

A distinguished alumnus of the U.S. Army War College with a Master’s in Strategic Studies, Lt. General Lagbaja was recognized for his strategic acumen and commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s security. He is survived by his wife, Mariya, and their two children.

President Tinubu offered his condolences to the family and the Nigerian Armed Forces, showing Lt. General Lagbaja’s legacy of service and integrity.

Meanwhile, Kogi State governor, Ahmed  Ododo, yesterday expressed shock over the death of Lagbaja.

The governor described his death as “a huge loss to the country as a whole.”

A statement by Kogi State Information and Communications Commissioner, Kingsley Fanwo said: “The Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency Alh Ahmed Usman Ododo has expressed shock over the death of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, calling his demise ‘a huge loss to the country as a whole’.

“Governor Ododo said the departure of the gallant and brave Army Chief was particularly sad at a time the fight against insecurity in Nigeria had gathered momentum, noting that the late Gen. Lagbaja was a ‘fearless General, an indomitable fighter, a tactical genius and an uncompromising warrior who was determined to stamp out terrorism and banditry from Nigeria’.

“The Governor extends his heartfelt sympathies to the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, His Excellency Sen Ahmed Bola Tinubu, GCFR; the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the Military establishment, the government and people of Osun State and the family of the departed hero.

“He called on the Nigerian Armed Forces to ensure that his dream of a secure and safe Nigeria does not die with him and prayed for the repose of his soul.”

Also paying tributes to the late COAS, a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, described Lagbaja as a strategic commander whose “leadership and vision have been instrumental in shaping the Nigerian Army into the formidable institution it is today.”

He said late General Lagbaja was a “true embodiment of discipline and dedication,” whose passing had left a void in the Nigerian Army and the country as a whole.

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General Buratai said this in a statement yesterday.

The statement reads: “I am deeply saddened by the loss of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Taoreed Abiodun Lagbaja, a true embodiment of discipline and dedication. His passing leaves a void in the Nigerian Army and the nation at large.

“I extend my heartfelt condolences to the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, General Lagbaja’s beloved wife, Mrs. Mariyah Abiodun Lagbaja, the Acting Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede, and the entire Nigerian Army. May Allah forgive his shortcomings and grant him eternal rest.

“During my time as COAS, I found him worthy of command where he was appointed Commander 9 Brigade in Ikeja and later Commander 2 Brigade in Uyo. The 2 Brigade that I also commanded. Upon his promotion to the rank of Major General, I posted him to Army Headquarters as the Director Campaign Plan in 2020. The nation has lost a strategic commander.

“General Lagbaja’s leadership and vision have been instrumental in shaping the Nigerian Army into the formidable institution it is today. His legacy will live on through the countless lives he touched and the nation he served with great zeal and commitment.

“In this difficult time, I pray that General Lagbaja’s family, friends, and colleagues find solace in the memories of his remarkable life and service. May his dedication to Nigeria inspire future generations to follow in his footsteps.

“Rest in peace, General Lagbaja. Your service to our great nation will never be forgotten.”

The Chairman of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL), High Chief Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a Tompolo has condoled with President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Army over the death of Lagbaja.

Tompolo, in a signed statement made available to reporters yesterday, also commiserated with the bereaved family.

He described his demise as “sad,” adding that he would be sorely “missed”.

The former freedom fighter emphasised the contributions of the late Army Chief to Nigeria’s security and in particular, the protection of critical national assets in the Niger Delta region.

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Parts of the statement read: “We are indeed touched in this sad story of the demise of our beloved General, who contributed so much to the security of the country and external aggressions.

“His support and co-operation in the security of oil and gas assets in the Niger Delta region is known to industry players and so many persons. We miss him.

“May the good Lord give President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, the Nigerian Military, the Nigerian Army and the family the strength and fortitude to bear the loss”.

Speaking in the same vein, the lawmaker representing Eket/ONNA/Esit-Eket/Ibeno in the House of Representatives, Okpolupm Etteh, condoled with the Nigerian Army and the family of the deceased.

Etteh, the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on University Education, in a solemn message yesterday, noted that the late COAS’s leadership and patriotism set a high standard within the Nigerian Army and contributed significantly to advancing the military’s mission of national defense and peace.

The lawmaker who is also a member of the House Committee on Army, expressed deep sympathy for the bereaved family, friends, and colleagues of the late Army Chief, acknowledging the profound loss his passing has brought to the entire nation.

He prayed for the peaceful repose of the late general’s soul and for God to grant strength to his family during this difficult time.

“Lt. General Lagbaja, remembered for his dedicated service to Nigeria, leaves behind a legacy of professionalism, bravery, and unwavering commitment to the nation’s security,” he said.

 

I regret obtaining NDA form for Lagbaja, says family head

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Why we arrested woman inciting people against Sokoto govt – Police

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Why we arrested woman inciting people against Sokoto govt – Police

The Police Command in Sokoto has explained why it arrested a woman identified as Hamdiyya Sidi, an alleged critic of government at Sabon Birnin Daji in Wurno Local Government Area of the State

Spokesperson for the Sokoto Police Command, ASP Ahmad Rufai gave the explanation while dismissing claims that that the woman was arrested and arraigned secretly for criticising rising killings in the state in a statement on Friday on some social media platforms.

Rufai described as “false and misleading information” allegation that the police had secretly apprehended and charged a woman who spoke out against violence in the state, purportedly to embarrass the Governor.

“The story is entirely unfounded. For clarity, Marafa Yakubu, the Village Head of Sabon Birnin Daji in Wurno Local Government Area, reported a case on Sunday involving a woman inciting unrest within the community,” he said.

Rufai explained that the woman, identified as Hamdiyya Sidi, allegedly introduced herself to the village as a member of a charitable organisation intending to support women and youth.

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“However, instead of distributing relief items, she reportedly incited the residents against the government.

“Recognising the potential disturbance, the village head alerted community guards, who subsequently apprehended the woman and handed her over to the police,” he noted.

Rufai added that Sidi confessed during the investigation and was formally charged within 24 hours for inciting public disturbance, an offense under Nigerian law.

“As such, the Commissioner of Police has urged the citizens to verify information before sharing it publicly, warning that inaccurate reports could harm community peace.

“Moreover, the Command remains committed to upholding citizens’ rights while fulfilling its constitutional duties,” Rufai said.

 

Why we arrested woman inciting people against Sokoto govt – Police

(NAN)

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