‘We’re beggars in Ibadan because bandits, terrorists killed our husbands in the North’ – Newstrends
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‘We’re beggars in Ibadan because bandits, terrorists killed our husbands in the North’

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3 years ago

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AISHA Ibrahim is a young woman but she appears to have the weight of the world sitting on her shoulders. She had great plans for her life but fate had something else in store for her.

She is one of several women from the Northern part of the country who are taking an exhausting walk through life in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. They had been forced to embark on unexpected journeys southwards after being dealt cruel fates by Boko Haram terrorists back in their home states. This writer caught up with some of these women. Some of them shared their pathetic stories.

For Aisha, the nightmare which has now become her life started on a dark night in Makasara in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State, a place she, her husband, father and siblings had thought would provide a safe haven for them. They had relocated to Kaduna State to escape the ceaseless strife which was making life difficult for them in Katsina State.

One day, marauders came, brandishing weapons and shooting into the air. They were unprepared for the midnight invasion of their village. The invaders left in their trail, blood and sorrow.

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Houses were set ablaze, farmlands were destroyed, cattle were rustled and many villagers were killed. Among the dead were Aisha’s father and husband, Ibrahim. The village became desolate; life became difficult for the survivors, having been stripped of their livelihoods. The invaders had rustled their cattle and laid waste their farmlands. At 35, Aisha, the first of the five children of her parents, had to find a means of survival and thus began her journey to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

In pursuit of a better life, Aisha had left her once-peaceful home alongside several other women. She boarded a truck to a destination unknown.
“It was just God that brought me here. When I left, I had no idea where I was going to. I met other women like me at the park and I joined them and here I am today,” she said.

Prior to her journey to the South West, Aisha was happily married. “I was living with my husband in Makasara in Kaduna State when bandits killed him. God had not blessed us with a child. I had to leave. I came in company with other women. I don’t have an idea how my siblings are doing. I don’t know whether they have found a way around life or if they are dead,” she told Saturday Tribune.

For Rukkaya Bello, her once peaceful nomadic life was cut short in Borno State when Boko Haram fighters invaded their settlement in Doron Baga in Baga Local Government Area of the state about three years ago. The havoc done by the terrorists had left her widowed and homeless. “I came here about a year ago. It was a year last month since I came to Ibadan,” she said.

Rukkaya narrated her ordeal and how she found her way to Ibadan. “I don’t have any children anymore. Boko Haram killed all my seven children and my husband. They rustled our cattle and abducted my daughters-in-law. I have no one left; it is just me and God. I didn’t have female children; my kids were all boys but Boko haram shot and killed them all. I was all alone and lonely, so I came here. God brought me here. After they killed our husbands and male children, they left a lot of women in the bush. We couldn’t stay in the bush without our cattle so we had to move to town.

“We were moving around with our cattle when the gunmen followed us into the bush. They killed all the men and the boys. The Boko Haram men offered them bombs and guns to attack people in another town but they refused. The Boko Haram then killed them because they would not join their cause.

“If they had accepted to be part of them, they could have been alive today but I would rather my sons are dead than living as Boko Haram terrorists. After killing our husbands and children, they said we, the mothers, could go. We headed in different directions but God brought me here. We take all that has happened as the will of God,” Rukkaya said.

Aisha and Rukkaya are among several women with similar stories begging on a bridge in the Ojoo area of Ibadan under harsh and unhealthy conditions. These women, together with their children, survive mainly on alms and food given to them by people of goodwill. “God usually sends Yoruba people to give us food, money and clothes,” Aisha said.

As a way of preserving some of the cooked food they get, these women spread the leftovers on the bridge to allow them dry after they have had enough to eat. They told Saturday Tribune that they re-cook the dry foods at home. “We understand the value of food, so in order to avoid any waste, we dry the foods here then we wash and re-cook them when we get home.”

The question of menstrual hygiene is far from routine for these women. According to Aisha, they use rags for sanitary towel. They lack other essentials to maintain a good hygiene.

“We don’t find joy in sitting by the roadside but we don’t know what else to do. If we stay at home, who will provide for us? We could not even have chosen to stay back in the North because the gunmen continued to lay siege to our homes both during the day and at night,” Indatu Abdullahi another of them said.

These women come out to beg under the sun and in the rain to ensure survival for themselves and their children. For some of them, they still shoulder the responsibilities of their children and relatives back home.

For Zainab Aliyu, she still caters for her mother and her 11 children after her husband was killed by bandits five years ago in Funtua, Katsina State.

“Two of the children are taking care of my mother who has been bedridden as a result of the injury she sustained during the attack in which my husband was murdered. Three are with my in-laws and I have the remaining six with me. So, the little money we get from begging, I send it home for them to feed as well,” Zainab said.

As harrowing as their stories are, the women expressed the hope that one day, things would get better; the government would be more responsive and they would return home and be reunited with their families.
Tribune

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N180m not missing from my account, it was all a plan – Verydarkman

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2 hours ago

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December 31, 2024

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Martins Vincent Otse, widely known as Verydarkman

N180m not missing from my account, it was all a plan – Verydarkman

Popular social critic, Martins Otse, also known as Verydarkman has revealed that not a single dime from his NGO funds is missing.

In a video shared on Tuesday, the outspoken social critic expressed disappointment with Nigerians for accepting the story without proper investigation and for resorting to insults directed at him and his mother.

He said, “No money is missing, my money is secured. The way people are so excited about bad is really sad. I told my website guy, shut the website, let us use this people catch cruise. Nobody bothered to ask for evidence. They just went with what is being said. I am so happy I did this.

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Recall on Friday, Verydarkman took to Instagram to raise an alarm about the hacking of his organisation’s account, claiming N180 million was missing.

N180m not missing from my account, it was all a plan – Verydarkman

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Court orders forfeiture of $49,700 linked to former INEC official

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3 hours ago

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December 31, 2024

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Court orders forfeiture of $49,700 linked to former INEC official

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday ordered the temporary forfeiture of the sum of 49, 700. 00 US dollars allegedly recovered from Dr Nura Ali, former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), for Sokoto State in the 2023 general elections.

Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order after Osuobeni Akponimisingha, counsel to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), moved an ex-parte motion to the effect.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) was the applicant, Ali was the sole respondent in the motion ex-parte marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1846/2024

The motion, dated Dec. 20 and filed Dec. 24, was jointly filed by the ICPC and the Department of State Service (DSS).

Mr Usman Dauda, the Director of Legal, signed the application on DSS’ behalf, Akponimisingha, Assistant Chief Legal Officer in ICPC, was part of the legal team that drafted the process.

The motion sought an order of the court temporarily forfeiting the sum of $49,700.00 (forty-nine thousand, seven hundred dollars), “recovered from one Dr. Nura Ali during a search operation by the Federal Government of Nigeria being property suspected to be proceed of an unlawful activity.”

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It also sought an order directing the applicant i.e., the FRN, through the ICPC and the DSS to jointly conduct a thorough preliminary investigation into the alleged unlawful activities of Ali, in respect of the moveable property sought to be forfeited and make a report to the court within 90 days.

It sought an order directing the applicant i.e., FRN, through the ICPC and the DSS to deposit the 49,700.00 dollars in an escrow account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN.

The application equally sought an order directing the applicant to publish a notice in any national newspaper calling for persons whether, human, juristic or artificial, having Interest in the money to show cause why it should not be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government.

Giving nine grounds why the application should be granted, the applicant said the victim of the alleged crime was the Federal Government of Nigeria and innocent taxpayers which include judges of courts across the country.

It said the money was recovered during a search operation by operatives of the DSS at the residence of Ali.

“The alleged moveable property of $49,700.00 was bribe money received by Dr Nura Ali when he was the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner for Sokoto State.

“The alleged moveable property is not the legitimate earning of Dr Ali as Independent National Electoral Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner. S

“The alleged moveable property is suspected to be proceed of crime,” it said.

The applicant argued that INEC does not pay its staff members with United States Dollar as salaries or allowances.

It said the essence of the application was not to compulsorily acquire the alleged moveable property from the alleged owner, but to preserve the property from dissipation.

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It said if the court grants the reliefs sought, interested persons including the alleged owner will be given opportunity to offer an explanation as to the legitimacy of the alleged property.

“Where cogent and verifiable explanation exists as to how the property was acquired, devoid of crime, the alleged owner or any other person having proprietary interest in the property will be allowed unrestricted possession of the property.

“This application is not in conflict with the provisions of Sections 43 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which guarantee the rights of citizens of Nigeria to acquire and own immoveable and moveable properties in any part of Nigeria,” it said.

When the matter was called, Akponimisingha, who appeared for the FRN, told the court that the motion ex-parte prayed the court for four orders.

The lawyer said four exhibits were attached to the motion, including Exhibit DSS 1 to Exhibit DSS 4.

He urged the court to grant the application in the interest of justice.

He said a search was conducted in Ali’s residence in Kano and the sum of 49, 700, 000 US dollars was retrieved from the building.

He told the court that Ali allegedly said that the sum of $150, 000 US dollars was given to him by the former Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, and Sen. Aliyu Wamakko.

The ICPC lawyer, who alleged that Ali made this disclosure in his extra-judicial statement to the DSS, said the former REC also wrote a letter to the security outfit in the bid to reclaim the money.

He insisted that INEC does not pay his workers or RECs in dollars.

Also in the affidavit in support of the motion ex-parte deposed to by Iliya Markus, a litigation officer with ICPC, he said that Akponimisingha informed him that he read through the case file and comprehended facts forming the allegations leading to the execution of e search warrant by operatives of the DSS at Ali’s residence.

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Markus said the DSS received an intelligence report on Dr Ali on allegations of bribery received from stakeholders, i.e politicians in the course of his official duties as INEC REC in charge of Sokoto State.

He said the intelligence report was processed and residence of Ali in Kano was searched pursuant to a search warrant executed jointly by operatives of the ICPC and DSS.

“A copy of the search warrant is hereby attached and marked as exhibit DSS 1,” he said.

The officer said in the course of the execution of the search warrant, the sum of $47,000.00 was recovered from the house.

According to him, Dr Ali also made statement(s) with respect to the search on his residence and the subsequent recovery of the alleged $49,700.00.

“A copy of the said extra-judicial statement is hereby attached and marked as exhibit DSS 2,” he said.

He said invitation letters had been written to invite persons he claimed gifted him the alleged $49,700.00.

“I also know as a fact that Dr Nura Ali did not report the gift of the alleged $49,700.00 to any law enforcement agency as required by extant laws of the land.

“Dr Ali had in the past written letters to the State Security Services requesting for release of the alleged $49,700.00 bribe money to him.

“Copies of the said letters are hereby attached and marked as exhibits DSS 3 & 4 respectively,” he said.

Markus said the investigation was yet to be concluded, hence, the need for the 90 days’ application.

Justice Nwite, who said that the application was meritorious, granted the prayers.

The judge adjourned the matter until Jan. 30, for report of compliance on the publication in the media and adjourned until March 31 for hearing of the matter.

 

Court orders forfeiture of $49,700 linked to former INEC official

(NAN)

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DSS arrests activist Shehu Mahdi over post on French military base

Published

3 hours ago

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December 31, 2024

By

Shehu Mahdi

DSS arrests activist Shehu Mahdi over post on French military base

The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested Mahdi Shehu, a prominent whistleblower and rights activist in Kaduna, over a controversial social media post alleging that France was influencing Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu to establish a French military base in the Northwestern region.

Mr. Shehu’s post, which featured an old video falsely suggesting French dominance in Nigeria’s affairs, sparked widespread online debate following President Tinubu’s recent visit to France.

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Despite deleting the video, which had gone viral, the DSS detained him over the weekend and is holding him at their Kaduna office.

Peoples Gazette reports indicate that the DSS is preparing to charge Mr Shehu in court by Monday. The arrest was first reported by Solacebase, a Kaduna-based newspaper.

This is not Mr. Shehu’s first encounter with authorities. Earlier this year, he was arrested by the police over extortion allegations brought by former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.

Mr. Shehu had denied the claims, alleging persecution due to a story he was working on that implicated the former justice minister.

 

DSS arrests activist Shehu Mahdi over post on French military base

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