The Harbingerngr News

The Presidency has rejected the report from Amnesty International Report, alleging that it was skewed. The presidency also said the global rights body cannot have more facts about things happening in the country than the President. Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media & Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, said these on Channels TV breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, while responding to claims that military high-handedness towards the protesters at Lekki Toll Gate led to hoodlums looting and burning public and private properties across the country. Also exonerating the military, Adesina said the Lekki Toll Gate incident didn’t precipitate the arson and looting spree that spread across the country. Amnesty International, on Wednesday, released a report, entitled “Nigeria: The Lekki Toll Gate massacre — new investigative timeline”. In the report, the rights group chronicled the movement of soldiers from a barracks till they got to the toll gate, where flag-waving and the Na...

By Ayodele Adedigba *Urges youths to respect traditional institution *Calls govt to support spiritual cleansing to ward off evil MAFOLUKU — THE Elewu of Ewuland in Mafoluku, Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area of Lagos State, His Royal Highness, Oba Sakirudeen Adeshina Kuti, has condemned attacks on some royal fathers during the #EndSARS protests. He frowned at the action of hoodlums who attacked the palaces of some kings, especially HRH Oba Rilwanu Akiolu of Lagos. Speaking during the visit of Oshodi-Isolo LGA Chairman, Hon. Bolaji Muse-Ariyoh, to his palace to commiserate with him on the loss of lives and properties suffered by the community during the EndSARS protests, which was hijacked by hoodlums. He said: “Youths should always respect traditional institutions and find peaceful means to express their grievances to those in authority.” The monarch commended the braveness of the genuine protesters against police brutality and urged government to fast-track solutions to their d...

*Inaugurates Traffic Corps Team By Idowu Ajigboteso LAGOS State Police Community Relations Committee, PCRC, Area F Command, Ikeja, has inaugurated Traffic Corps Team to support police effort in tackling traffic gridlock in the state. The inauguration, which was performed by the Area F Commander, ACP John Ali Zongo, was held at the Command’s Headquarters in Ikeja. In his speech, Zongo commended the committee for the initiative to help reduce traffic bottleneck in the state, which was already at an alarming rate. He directed Area Traffic Officer, CSP Akinsola, to put the Traffic Corps Team in a proper shape by organising training for them. He also charged Akinsola to be fully involved and carry the team along. Chairman, Area F PCRC, Rev. (Prof.) J.A. Olatunde, thanked the area commander for making out time from his tight schedule to inaugurate the Traffic Corps, adding that this shows the importance the ACP attached to the initiative to assist police in the command to control traff...

By Elizabeth Temitope THE Lagos State Government has announced that both public, private, secondary and primary schools in the state will resume Novemeber 2. While the students in boarding school will resume on Sunday, November 1. Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, stated this in a statement released on Thursday, October 29.  In the statement, Adefisayo said: "Lagos State Government has approved the re-opening of schools for all classes in public and private schools across the state beginning from Monday, November 2, 2020, while boarders in public schools are to resume on Sunday, November 1.  "Recall that Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had the penultimate weekend, directed closure of all schools following the violence that erupted during #EndSARS protests across the metropolis. “This has been an unprecedented year with the recent happenings that have regrettably led to frequent closure of schools with attendant learning disruptions faced by all chi...

By Tunde Bakare WHEN our nation attained independence on October 1, 1960, it was with fervent faith in the possibilities of a great nation that our founding fathers lowered the British flag and hoisted the Green-White-Green. Their dream of a great nation was etched in the lyrics of our founding national anthem, the second stanza of which states: Our flag shall be a symbol That truth and justice reign In peace or battle honour’d, And this we count as gain, To hand on to our children A banner without stain. In the past week, we witnessed with great sorrow the desecration of our nationhood as Nigeria’s armed forces stained the banner of our nationhood, the Nigerian flag, with the blood of our children, the Nigerian youth, to whom our founding fathers charged us to handover a banner without stain. It is, therefore, with a heavy heart over the current state of our nation, but with resilient hope in the possibilities of a New Nigeria, that I bring you this State of the Nation Broadcast orig...

*Why US prefers South Korea's Yoo Myung-hee The former Minister of Finance in Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has emerged winner as the new Director General of the World Trade Organization. She is the first female and first African Director-General of the WTO. In a keenly contested election, Okonjo-Iweala beat her rival, South Korean, Yoo Myung hee, with a wide margin. She polled 104 votes from 164 member countries to defeat Myung Hee at the final stage of the race. Okonjo-Iweala received widespread support from Africa and other continents before the election which took place today October 28. Her victory comes days after European Union member nations backed her candidacy against Ms. Myung hee, who was supported by the United States. The official announcement is expected to be made by the WTO. Okonjo-Iweala, 66, served as Nigeria’s first female Finance and later Foreign Affair minister, and has a 25-year career behind her as a development economist and international finance expert at...

*At 6:29pm local time in Lagos, two military vehicles were filmed leaving Bonny Camp. Later footage showed four vehicles with flash lights in a convoy, and they appeared to be vehicles used by the Nigerian military and police. Same vehicles head east along Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, in the direction of the Lekki Toll Gate. Vehicles arriving at the toll gate. At night time, ‘soldiers’ descended on protesters, as protesters continued to film and share videos of the shootings. In the evening, videos of victims were shared on social media — Amnesty International GLOBAL rights watchdog,  Amnesty International yesterday asked the Federal Government not to cover up the shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate during the #EndSARS protests but bring to justice those involved. The group said its call became necessary because government had a knack for sweeping under the carpet incidents of such magnitude, citing the killings of hundreds of Shi’ites who were killed in Zaria, Kaduna State,in 2016, insisti...

Return to your duty posts — IGP We're left to die — Police officer By Ayodele Adedigba LAGOS State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has given scholarship to the children of the slain policemen who died during the #EndSARS protests in the state.  Sanwo-Olu also promised to pay medical bills of the police officers who were injured as the protest turned violent  Babajide Sanwo-Olu made the promise during his visit to the state police command headquarters, Ikeja yesterday. According to Sanwo-Olu: “As your governor, I have come here to take full responsibility for the loss you have suffered in terms of logistics. “The commissioner of police has come forward with a number of requests, which we will need to address to boost the morale of officers after the last week’s event. “The most important request is to offer scholarships to the children of officers that died. I have directed the Lagos state scholarship board, under the special adviser on education, to immediately award scholarship...

The Federal Government of Nigeria has declared Thursday October 29, 2020; public holiday to mark the birth of Prophet Mohammed.  The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, made the declaration on Tuesday on behalf of the Federal Government, through Director of Press and Public Relations, Mohammed Manga. According to the statement, Ogbeni Aregbesola congratulated the Muslim faithful for witnessing this year's occasion. He advised them to imbibe the spirit of love, patience and perseverance which were the virtues of the Holy Prophet, adding that doing so would guarantee peace and safety in the country. The minister appealed to Nigerians, particularly Muslims to avoid violence, lawlessness, wantonness and daylight robbery as witnessed across the country recently. He called for a stop to all divisive tendencies across the country, stressing the need for Nigerians and the youths, in particular, to embrace peace and cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari's administration in its ef...

GOVERNOR Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, yesterday, approved the full resumption of operations of both food and non-food markets across the state. To this effect, the markets will now open daily. Markets were shut due to the outbreak of ravaging COVID-19 pandemic about eight months ago and subsequently, reopened partially on alternative days’ arrangement. A statement by the Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Dr. Wale Ahmed, said: “Mr. Governor took the decision to further enhance trade and commerce and mitigate the hardship of recent times and ensure that residents can recover fast.” Sanwo-Olu however, advised operators to continue to observe all safety protocols.

*Says their voice has been heard President Muhammadu Buhari has called  on youths still protesting across the country against the brutality of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, to stop their protests and engage constructively with the Federal Government to resolve issues affecting them, saying their voice has been heard loud and clear and he is responding to their demand. The president made the call in his nationwide broadcast yesterday as rampaging hoodlums virtually held the nation hostage, attacking police stations and business premises, looting and burning them.  He condemned the large-scale destruction of lives and properties currently going on nationwide by arsonists who have taken advantage of the peaceful #EndSARS protests. He also asked the international community to seek facts about developments in Nigeria before reaching conclusions, especially the global leaders, such as the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, US Democratic Presidential candidate, J...

*Condemns Lekki-Tollgate massacre OODUA Peoples’ Congress, OPC, has condemned the killing of innocent and unarmed protesters at Lekki Tollgate. The congress warned the miscreants looting and destroying public properties not to turn the South-West region to war zone.   OPC, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Oguntimehin, expressed concern on the situation leading to the death of some of the defenceless protesters in Lekki, saying that the killing was barbaric and an attempt to cow the people from expressing their views against the government.   According to the statement: “It was obvious that some enemies of the people of Southwest   have decided to use the peaceful protests to unleash terror in the region. How could a peaceful protest turned bloody overnight? Those behind the killing in Lekki decided to unleash terror on innocent and unarmed youths by shutting down the Close Circuit Camera and putting out the billboard light at the toll-g...

By Tade Oludayo Sòròsókè (speak louder), represents agency activation of voice to know the unknown, clarify a confused state and challenge negligence, right denial and injustice. On the flip side is ‘off-the-mic’, a tactical strategy to conceal the truth, ignore a genuine concern, silent opposition, frame constructive criticism as ‘corruption is fighting back’ and tyrannise being accountable. It was Minister of Niger Delta Godswill Akpabio while appearing before a National Assembly panel investigating alleged fleecing of billions of naira in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, who was instructed to ‘off-the-mic’ to prevent further disclosures or clarifications on the beneficiaries of NDDC contracts.  Since then, ‘off-the-mic’ gained ascendancy in national discourse. #EndSARS Sòròsókè movement is therefore a protest against “Sarsism’ (a behavioural disposition which oppresses, extorts, brutalises, denies rights, annihilates, victimises and ignores the victimisation of the ...

THE management of Loatsad Promomedia Limited has said it turned off the billboard at the Lekki toll gate based on the state governor’s curfew request. The advert company is owned by Seyi Tinubu, one of the sons of All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain, Bola Tinubu. Eyewitnesses claimed soldiers opened fire on #EndSARS protesters after the billboard was turned off on Tuesday evening, which enraged Nigerians. But Loatsad Promomedia, in a statement on its Instagram handle, said it had no ulterior motive for the action. “When the ‘EndSARS and ‘say no to police brutality’ protests started from day one, we wholly supported the movement and used all our platforms to promote the messages (I believe the promoters can verify this information) as we believed in the cause. “On Tuesday, when the curfew was announced we heeded the governor’s warnings and didn’t want our staff in any danger, hence by 3pm, our staff had been ordered to leave the site and the board was switched off, based on the go...

Soyinka  and Obasanjo •Policeman killed, another injured in Lagos Police stations’ attacks  •Three banks, Ejigbo LCDA set ablaze •Protesters raze BRT buses at Oyingbo terminus, NPA, TVC, LCC, others •Staff of office seized, as ‘protesters’ take over Oba of Lagos palace  •Aba town hall set on fire  •Ondo APC, PDP Secretariat, SARS office razed by hoodlums •Obasanjo cautions Buhari against use of force •Soyinka condemns attack on protesters  •NBA vows to sue Nigerian military PROTEST by the Nigerian youths calling for the disbanding of Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, of the Nigeria Police, which began on October 8, assumed a violent dimension, when hoodlums and security agents started attacking protesters last week.  The violent became uncontrollable on Wednesday, after the killings of the protesters by unnamed armed men at Lekki Tollgate on Tuesday. Later hoodlums hide under the protests to cause chaos and wreck havoc. The hoodlums who hijacked the protes...