Every year thousands of women are trafficked to European cities and put to work having sex with men. Jewel, a young Nigerian who had expected to become a carer, eventually managed to escape thanks to two chance meetings.

"I just saw light. It's very often dark where I come from because there's no electricity… But everything here was just blinking - it was very beautiful."

Jewel - not her real name - is describing her arrival in Denmark.

"I was thanking God for the opportunity to be in this country. I was looking forward to starting work."   

Jewel caught a flight from Nigeria thinking she was going to work with old people.   

"People who get trafficked go through Libya and usually take buses and boats. But this was so well organised that it wasn't suspicious at all," she says.

The International Organisation for Migration has estimated 80% of Nigerian women travelling overland, then attempting to cross the Mediterranean, are trafficked into the European sex trade. Jewel knew of women who had suffered that fate after making the perilous journey, so when her trip began at Lagos airport, she was reassured.

In Copenhagen, she was met by a Nigerian woman, who took her the following day to Vesterbro, Copenhagen's red light district.    

"I was looking around for some sort of hospital," Jewel remembers.

They walked the streets for a while, Jewel being told to take note of her surroundings.

Then the woman dropped a bombshell.

"She said, 'This is where you're going to be working.' I looked round to see if she was pointing at a building I hadn't noticed. But no - she meant where we'd been walking. That's when she told me I was going to be a prostitute, and this was where I'd be hunting for customers. Then the whole of Denmark just crashed down on me…"

Jewel had one fortuitous meeting that night that would later be important - Michelle Mildwater from HopeNow, an NGO supporting trafficked people in Denmark, spotted the tiny, timid, 20-something woman and gave her a card with a contact number on it.

Jewel's Nigerian boss - her "madam" - told her not to trust this English woman with a bike. Then she quickly found Jewel her first customer.

"The man gave her 4,000 kroner (£450 / $620) to take me home, and then my madam just walked away," says Jewel.

"He drove me for what seemed like forever. I didn't speak the language at the time and I had no idea what he was saying - we had to use Google Translate to communicate. It was scary."

In the months that followed, selling sex did not become any easier for Jewel.

"I wasn't good at it. I was that shy one in the corner. But I always got found because the regulars know when a new person arrives, and they wanted a piece of the new person."

In the most recent figures released by the EU, more than 14,000 trafficking victims were registered in 2017/2018 - but this will be the tip of the iceberg, because they represent only identified cases. Half were from outside the EU, with Nigeria one of the top five nationalities.

Sexual exploitation continues to be the main purpose of trafficking, according to the European Commission, and in a single year the criminal revenues derived from it are estimated at a staggering 14bn euros (£12bn / $16bn).

The women who earn this money are told they owe their traffickers huge sums for travel and accommodation.

"They are debt-bonded," says Sine Plambech, a senior researcher in the Department of Migration at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

"Nigerians are one of the migrant sex worker groups with the highest debt. It could be between 10,000 and 60,000 euros. And when you have that kind of debt, you need to make a lot of money fast. And if you don't have papers that allow you to work, the fastest way to earn money is in the sex industry."

Jewel's traffickers said she would have to pay them 42,000 euros, in regular instalments. To underline their point they summoned her to a frightening meeting in a cemetery, the day before she flew out of Nigeria.

"I was forced to take an oath that I was going to pay the money no matter what, and that I was not going to reveal who trafficked me. If I did, so many bad things were going to happen to me and my family."

Once Jewel was in Denmark, the traffickers menaced her family in Nigeria.   

"People just came into the house and they wanted my grandmother to talk to me about not having any ideas about reporting them to the police, or not paying the money. So every time I called her, she was always crying on the phone and reminding me that I had made this deal with these people - I had to pay or something would happen to them."

Jewel was under immense pressure so did not feel she could be discriminating about the clients she serviced inside and between parked cars on the streets of Vesterbro, or in their homes.

"You cannot say no. You have to say yes, because there are 10 or 15 other women looking at that same guy wanting to make some money that night," she says.

But going with a customer to his home could be enormously risky.

"I could have died that night I was forced to remain in the bathtub," she remembers, still traumatised.

"The man I had to go home with asked me to get in the bathtub. And I thought, 'OK - he wants me to clean up or something.' Then he went out and came back with two buckets of ice. And he started pouring this ice on me in the bath. And I was in there naked and it's in the middle of winter…"

'Impunity of perpetrators'

In April this year, announcing a new strategy to combat human trafficking, the European Commission admitted that 10 years of efforts to tackle the problem had largely failed.

"The impunity of perpetrators in the EU persists, and the numbers of prosecutions and convictions of traffickers remain low," it said, making trafficking "a low-risk and high-profit crime".

Attempts to reduce demand for the services of exploited victims had also flopped, the Commission added.

The UK government says that in the year to March 2020 police recorded 7,779 modern slavery crimes (including labour exploitation and sexual exploitation), but fewer than 250 people were charged in 2019.

The UK's support services for victims of modern slavery are run by the Salvation Army. It says 610 non-British survivors of sexual exploitation joined its programme in the year to June 2021.

Vesterbro's main street, Istedgade, with its bars, clubs and sex shops, is noisy and brightly lit on a Saturday night. Groups of men, often unsteady on their feet from the effects of alcohol, prowl up and down. The women selling sex - most of them from Nigeria and Eastern Europe, their hair and make-up immaculate - are dressed in figure-hugging, comfy gym gear. They sport trainers you can run in - there are few pairs of high heels, and no stereotypical "sexy" outfits.

Michelle Mildwater, who has supported foreign prostitutes in Denmark for more than a decade, still does the rounds here - giving out her card to women like Jewel, offering help and counselling. She is very aware how perilous street life is, and remembers several violent incidents in one of the district's hotels.

"We had a number of rapes in there," she says. "There were times when a woman ran out with blood all over her."

At weekends, Danish NGOs run services for the women selling sex. One, Reden International, has a café where they can rest, recuperate and get a snack between clients. And in one of the side streets, a group of volunteers host a harm reduction initiative like no other.

It is called the Red Van, because that is what it is - a vehicle with a bed in the back lit by fairy lights, and a ready supply of condoms and wipes. It is a private space where sex workers can bring a client instead of going somewhere potentially unsafe. Throughout the night, a steady stream of women arrive - men in tow - to use the van's facilities, while the volunteers stand a respectful distance away but close enough to hear if a woman is in trouble. It may be used up to 28 times in a four-hour shift.

One of the Red Van's volunteers is Sine Plambech, the academic researcher.

"These women have a problem they're trying to solve - debt, poverty, family, children. They need to work. They're going to sell sex whether we like it or not, so we provide a safe space for them while they're doing what they would do anyway," she says.

"Most women wouldn't sell sex if they didn't have to. You can have all these moral ideas about what's good for them, but they need to make money."

Buying and selling sex in Denmark is not illegal, but you do need a work permit. The precarious migration status of many of the women selling sex in Copenhagen makes them more vulnerable - and far less likely to report any abuse or violence against them to the police.    

Denmark's policy is to deport irregular migrants.  Even if women are identified as victims of human trafficking, they are expected to return to their home countries after a short period in a government-sponsored safe house.

After four months on the streets, desperate, depressed and tempted to take her own life, Jewel too was reluctant to report to the authorities. She still had a massive debt, and was fearful for her safety and that of her family in Nigeria.

Then her life changed. It sounds corny - like a fairytale even - but Jewel met a Danish man and fell in love. On their first date, after a romantic meal, she told him everything.

"That's a burden he's had to carry," she says now about the man who became her husband.

Jewel stopped working on the streets, and he helped her make her weekly repayments to her madam. But the couple needed advice. Did Jewel know anyone who could assist them, her boyfriend asked?

Jewel had kept the card Michelle Mildwater had given her that first night she sold sex in Vesterbro.    

Michelle counselled Jewel, helped her to confront her demons, and gave her the confidence to stop paying her madam. And fortunately, there have been no violent repercussions for her or her family - perhaps because her trafficker did not belong to one of the large transnational criminal networks.

Now Jewel is awaiting the outcome of her application to remain in Denmark. Meanwhile, her Danish has become fluent and she has had a baby. Jewel and Michelle have become firm friends. And when Jewel got married, the NGO worker from HopeNow was her Best Woman.    

"That's one of the proudest moments of my life - that someone walked me down the aisle, and it was Michelle who did that," says Jewel.

Jewel hopes one day she will go to business school. She also wants to do voluntary work helping women on the streets.

Just before lockdown, Michelle Mildwater, who is a former actor, encouraged Jewel to develop a play - the story of a trafficked woman - and perform it for an audience in Copenhagen. Jewel called it The Only Way Out Is Through.

"That was therapy. When I was doing the show I was kind of… out of my body. It was like I was part of the audience, and I was very touched by what I saw," Jewel says.

"Because this is not just a story - this is people's reality."        

 

BBC

Budgetary allocations for the Presidential Air Fleet have increased from N4.37bn in 2017 to N12.48bn in 2022, according to data obtained from the appropriation bills of the Federal Government within the period under review.

Jets in the Presidential Air Fleet serve President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and their households.

This shows an increase of N8.11bn or 185.58 per cent in five years, signalling a rise in the cost of running the Presidential Air Fleets.

On October 7, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2022 budget proposal to a joint session of the National Assembly; a whopping N16.39tn, which will send the Federal Government on another borrowing spree of N6.23tn. According to the proposal, N12.48bn was appropriated for the PAFs.

Data show that budgetary allocations for the PAFs have been on a steady increase since 2017, except for 2020, where the allocation saw a slight drop by N503.75m against the preceding year.

In 2017, the proposed allocation was N4.37bn. Recurrent expenditure—comprising personnel remuneration and overhead—amounted to N4.37bn. N399.50m was allocated for capital projects.

In 2018, the proposed allocation was N7.26bn. Recurrent expenditure—comprising of personnel remuneration and overhead—amounted to N4.36bn. N2.90bn was allocated for capital projects. This showed an increase of 66.13 per cent from the previous year.

In 2019, the proposed allocation was N7.30bn. Recurrent expenditure—comprising of personnel remuneration and overhead—amounted to N4.36bn while N2.94bn was allocated for capital projects. This showed an increase of 0.55 per cent from the previous year.

In 2020, the proposed allocation was N6.79bn. Recurrent expenditure—comprising of personnel remuneration and overhead—amounted to N3.02bn while N3.77bn was allocated for capital projects.

The allocation for 2020 dropped by 6.99 per cent compared to 2019. This decrease which was in overhead cost may be connected to the global lockdown that ceased operations for several months.

In 2021, the proposed allocation was N12.55bn. Recurrent expenditure—comprising of personnel remuneration and overhead—amounted to N4.37bn while N8.18bn was allocated for capital projects. This showed an increase of 84.83 per cent from the previous year.

In 2022, the proposed allocation was N12.48bn. Recurrent expenditure—comprising of personnel remuneration and overhead—amounted to N4.35bn while N8.13bn was allocated for capital projects. Personnel remuneration for 2022 increased by N13.5m or 3.1 per cent from the previous year. The allocation for 2022 decreased by 0.56 per cent compared to 2021.

According to the breakdown, Buhari proposed N2bn for the repair of air navigational equipment, N210m for the purchase of Phase 7 Avionics for AW 139 helicopters, N1.6bn for general maintenance, N1bn for aircraft maintenance and N250m for aviation fuel.

Punch

Anambra state governorship election may suffer serious setback as the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has declared total lockdown in all states in south East from November 5 to November 10, to compel the federal government to release its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has fixed the Anambra gubernatorial election for November 6, 2021.

But in a statement issued by its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB said, “Following the adjournment of Nnamdi Kanu’s court case to 10th of November 2021, by the Federal High Court Abuja, it demanded all lovers of Biafra and Biafrans to sit at home from 5 to 10 November to ensure that their leader is released.

“We the great movement and family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), wish to inform Biafrans, friends of Biafra and lovers of freedom that IPOB will lock down Biafra land from 5th of November to 10th of November except Sunday, November 7th, a day our people worship the Almighty God, Chukwu Okike Abiama, if the Nigeria Government fails to release our leader unconditionally before 4th of November 2021” he stated.

IPOB said its leader Nnamdi Kanu must be released unconditionally on or before November 4, 2021 “because he has not committed any offense known to any law.

According to the group, “failure to release Kanu on or before November 4, 2021 there will be one week Sit-At-Home beginning on November 5, 2021 till November 10.”

Kanu was arraigned at the Federal High Court, Abuja on treasonable felony and terrorism charges.

The fresh seven-count charges against Kanu followed his arrest and extradition from Kenya after he jumped bail.

Kanu, however, pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

Daily Trust

Onaolapo Ademola is one of the 12 associates of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, recently released on bail from the custody of the Department of State Services. In this interview with KAYODE OYERO, Ademola narrates how the secret police raided the Ibadan residence of Igboho in a Gestapo style in the midnight of July 1, 2021, killing two associates and arresting him and other Igboho’s aides

 

Please tell us about yourself.

I am Onaolapo Ademola by name. I am 32 years old. I’m a solar inverter expert. I deal in land and real estate and also have an online television.

 

What is your relationship with Sunday Igboho?

I am his ‘son’ and a follower. I am the director of his foundation, Sunday Adeyemo Foundation, for the past two to three years now. I also happened to be one of his media aides before we started the journey of Yoruba Nation.

 

How many years have you known Sunday Igboho and have been working with him?

I have known him for over 10 years.

 

Can you narrate what happened in the midnight of July 1, 2021 at Igboho’s residence in the Soka area of Ibadan?

It is an unforgettable day in the history of the Yoruba people because when everyone else was greeted, ‘Happy new month!’, we were greeted in a way we never expected; we were greeted as if we were in a battlefield. We woke up to find ourselves in that mess; it was a misuse of power by the present government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I’ve been minding my speech about the event of that day because a lot of us are still suffering from psychological trauma because what happened that day alone can take one’s life.

 

How did it all happen?

My house was not far from Igboho’s house and being a father to me, I have access to him and he has to me. He did call to see me anytime to run errands for him. I was in my personal house around 12am but I had a message to pass across to him which I could not deliver by phone. I moved from my house to his residence at exactly 12am and met with him. We discussed till around 1am and were outside with some of our people till around 1:30am.

In his house, I have a chalet he allocated to me as one of his associates. At exactly 1:30am, he moved into his building, others retreated into their own apartments and I also moved into my own. But at exactly 1:35am, I started hearing gunshots and I wondered what was happening. My chalet is directly facing the main gate and I opened the window to peep to see what was happening outside. To my greatest shock, I couldn’t see anybody but I heard sporadic gunshots. Whenever I heard, ‘Fire!’, they would shoot at the building.

As a Muslim, I started reciting different verses of the Quran believing it might be the end of my life. While still peeping through the window, I could see two DSS personnel inside the house – they came through the fence because they could not force their way in through the main gate from outside. So, some of them jumped the fence and came in to open the gate for the others. When they opened the gate, I saw that they were dressed in black and were putting on helmets. They were dressed like they were on a battle ground, facing Boko Haram. I heard them calling themselves, ‘Come in two-two!’ I immediately woke the boy that was with me and told him that we needed to start preparing for our burial because there was no way to escape.

They were more than 100 personnel inside the building comprising the DSS and soldiers. They shot sporadically everywhere. When they got to any chalet or any of the rooms, they fired directly. I started praying and I’m thankful that God saved my life.

The shooting continued for three hours. When they got to my chalet, I opened the door for them. They marched on my head on the floor. I had collected around N300,000 from Igboho, which I wanted to use to buy something the following morning. One of the soldiers picked up the money. They demanded my gun and I told them, ‘Do I look like someone who can shoot? Do I look like someone who can operate a gun?’ They marched my head still and I was handcuffed. They then took me to the gate to lie down there with others.

At the gate, to my greatest shock, I saw one of my very good brothers, Saheed Oladams (Adogan), the Chief Executive Officer of Oladams Motors in Osogbo, in a pool of blood. Likewise Alfa. We were still together around 12:30am but the two of them were already gunned down.

After we had been handcuffed, and laid on the floor, they (security operatives) started destroying the vehicles in the compound, threatening to burn down the house and saying all sorts of things. They also made a roll call of the people in the house. That was what happened. But to the glory of God, here we are today.

 

The DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, said Igboho men engaged the operatives in a gun duel before you guys were overpowered after two of Igboho’s aides were gunned down. Who among you were firing at the DSS men?

Nothing of such (happened); nobody retaliated, nobody exchanged gunshots with them. You know the Nigerian military, if anybody had retaliated by exchanging gunshots, you know what would have happened. Those they killed didn’t exchange gunshots with them (security agents). Alfa was an innocent man. He was killed in the waiting room of Igboho while he was praying. He was a cleric and he could not see; he was blind. On getting to the waiting room, they (security operatives) just fired straight and gunned him down. Also, Adogan did not, in any way, exchange gunshots with them. He was shot in the bathroom where he was hiding.

 

What about the narrative that the security agents used a mortar to smash Adogan’s head when he refused to die after being shot?

Nothing of such (happened); he was shot in the bathroom.

 

As an eyewitness to the event of that midnight, exactly how many people died?

Two people died – Alfa and Adogan.

 

Where are their remains?

When we were being taken to the DSS office in Abuja from Ibadan, we got to Ekiti together with the two corpses. At the DSS office in Ekiti, we noticed that they took the corpses of Adogan and Alfa away in a Hilux vehicle. So, I believe their remains are with the DSS.

 

How many of you were arrested?

They arrested 22 people; 12 males and 10 females. When we got to Ekiti at the entrance of the DSS office, they freed nine of the ladies, after asking everyone, ‘Who is Lady K?’ So, they only took Lady K with the men to Abuja. Out of the 12 men, one of us was a police officer, an escort of Adogan. The officer was not paraded in Abuja. Instead, 12 of us, including Lady K, were paraded.

 

Has the officer been released?

Yes, he was released before us.

 

There were reports that the DSS picked up some cats found in Igboho’s house, CCTV brain box, among other things. What are the things the DSS took from Igboho’s house that night?

They took gold, money, our phones which are still with them. They went away with the CCTV, and one of the cats after killing about four or five cats. They went away with a big MP3; they went away with a lot of things. They went away with the cat, believing Igboho turned to the cat.

 

The DSS also claimed in a statement that they recovered some guns and ammunition from Igboho’s house that night. How true is this?

They (the DSS) are in a better position to explain where they got that from. But there was a police officer in the house and he had a gun, maybe they took the gun of the police officer.

 

Was Igboho at home during the raid?

Yes, he was at home. The DSS saw him; they can’t deny that because that night, they came with three herbalists. After shooting at so many corners of the house, all of a sudden they couldn’t see him again, so they believed he was hiding, not knowing he was in the building. Igboho is not an ordinary man; he is the Akoni Oodua of Yorubaland and a real son of Oduduwa.

When the DSS could not find him, they brought in their herbalists and they started chanting incantations wanting him to come back. The herbalists later told the DSS that Baba (Igboho) had turned to a cat. That was when they started killing the cats. I believe they know he has metaphysical powers, that was why they came in with herbalists to get him at all costs but God was not ready to put his life in the hands of the DSS.

 

How did you recognise the ‘herbalists’; were they donning amulets and charms?

They wore ordinary clothes, not traditional attire but when the DSS could not find Igboho, they called them in and the herbalists started chanting incantations.

 

What is the number of security operatives that came for the raid?

The DSS operatives were more than 20 and most of them were from Oyo while the soldiers were more than 200. I could count about 87 vehicles when they were taking us away. They came with ambulances too, believing they were going to a war zone.

 

How did you know most of the DSS operatives were from Oyo State?

After they took us from the house, the number of DSS operatives that followed us to Abuja was reduced drastically.

 

Were the police also involved in the raid?

No, only the Nigerian Army and the DSS came that day.

 

If there were these many security operatives during that raid, as you have said, how was Igboho able to escape, while you, his aides, could not?

I am not fortified with anything but I believe in the Almighty God. Igboho is a human being like everyone but he is a special creature. No one can face what he faced that night and escape. There was a lady in one of their vehicles that was saying, ‘Get him dead or alive!’

 

From Ibadan, you were whisked to Abuja the same day you were arrested. Can you briefly narrate your ordeal while with the secret police?

I was there for 62 days. It was part of the sacrifice, no going back. It was dehumanising to be in custody without seeing the sun or the moon for months, being maltreated, given food that a dog could not eat, sleeping on  bare floor for 62 days, eating in the same place where I defecated, the same place where I urinated, the same place where I observed my prayers. We were given N20 Cowbell (milk) and a loaf of bread of less than N50 to eat per day. There was no access to lawyers, no access to family members. It was hell. It was a terrible experience which I do not wish for even my enemy.

 

In the DSS custody, what were the offences the secret police said you committed?

Offence? Even if I had committed an offence, is coming in the dead of the night to kill us the solution? I did not commit any offence.

 

When you were interrogated in the DSS custody, what were the questions they asked you?

They asked me personal questions and my purpose of being in Igboho’s house. They also asked for my bank accounts, Facebook name, my village address, they asked me a lot of questions. They asked me to tell them how long I had known Igboho and I told them. I cannot disown him, no matter the situation.

 

Were you kept in an underground cell in DSS custody?

The first place we were kept for the first two days in the DSS custody was an underground cell where if anything happened, we couldn’t know. From there we graduated to another cell where we had access to Fulani, Hausa detainees who don’t understand English language. Some of them were suspected bandits and Boko Haram members. There were others who were not Hausa but suspected IPOB members.

 

How many detainees were kept in a single cell with you?

Three. It’s a small cell with useless settings for three people, one had to sleep by bending.

 

Were you kept with your associates or strangers?

We, the Igboho 12, were scattered into various cells. I was detained with Kanuri and Hausa suspects. We didn’t understand our individual languages. All that bound us together was Muslim solat. We couldn’t communicate. It was hell. It got to a time that those of us arrested in Igboho’s house couldn’t sleep at night, we prayed all through; the Muslims observed Tahjud, midnight prayers, while the Christians held vigils.

 

How did the Igboho 12 pray together when you were in separate cells?

We prayed by raising our voices, both Christians and Muslims. We shouted to communicate when it was time for prayers. Of course, we recognised our different voices.

 

In all of this, do you have any regrets at all?

I suffered for my fatherland and I want my people to be liberated. This is a tyrannical government that has no respect for the rule of law.

 

Have you undergone any medical treatment after your release?

I would have died if I hadn’t undergone any medical treatment after my release. You can never be in DSS custody and come back without seeking medical attention.

 

How do you feel that you have been released on bail?

There is nothing like freedom. Even if you don’t have money but can move around, you should be grateful to God for that. So, I am grateful to God that I have been released.

 

Some three weeks after your arrest, your boss, Igboho, was also apprehended at an airport in neighbouring Cotonou in Benin Republic on July 19, 2021 and has since been behind bars. How do you feel about this development?

It is a sad development for us, his followers, that Igboho, a man of honour and a philanthropist par excellence, was arrested but there is nothing we could do about it.

 

You claimed Igboho is not an ordinary man, which was why he was able to escape the DSS raid in Ibadan but he was subsequently apprehended in Cotonou. What do you think went wrong?

God understands everything.

 

Do you still believe in Igboho despite all that has happened?

I’m 100 per cent with him.

 

Do you still believe in Yoruba Nation agitation?

No going back, the struggle continues.

Punch

 

Nigerian Army has countered an article by The Economist, which criticises the federal government on the security challenges in the country and describes “many” soldiers as “ghosts”.

The article, published earlier on Saturday, had made references to security agencies such as the army and the police, noting that the government needs to do more improve security.

“When violence erupts, the government does nothing or cracks heads almost indiscriminately. Nigeria’s army is mighty on paper. But many of its soldiers are “ghosts” who exist only on the payroll, and much of its equipment is stolen and sold to insurgents,” the article reads.

“The army is also stretched thin, having been deployed to all of Nigeria’s states. The police are understaffed, demoralised and poorly trained. Many supplement their low pay by robbing the public they have sworn to protect.”

The article, however, makes recommendations for improved security, adding that “to stop the slide towards lawlessness, Nigeria’s government should make its own forces obey the law”.

But in a statement issued hours after the article was published, the army criticised the position of The Economist on the efforts of the military, describing it as a report done “without due diligence”.

“Even as the real intention of the otherwise respected Economist magazine in publishing such toxic concoctions weaved up as report on Nigerian Government’s response to the multi-faceted security challenges assailing the country is yet to be unraveled, the source of the article is very clear. It is one of those deliberate falsehood and noxious narratives orchestrated by a network of detractors and coven of dark forces working very hard to adorn the Nigerian Army in an unfitting garb of infamy,” a statement by Onyema Nwachukwu, army spokesman, reads.

“The vile report which the Economist chose to offer its platform for publication, spared no effort in trying to vilify and rubbish the image, character and reputational standing of the Nigerian Army, but failed woefully.

“As a professional, hard-fighting and globally respected institution that has continued to occupy deserved glorious position in the comity of global defence forces, the Nigerian Army is certainly not what the so-called report by the Economist tried to characterise it. Even more ludicrous was the embellishments of the said report by the notorious unprofessional media outlets that were quick to republish the obvious falsehood.

“How is it conceivable that an international magazine worth its name and professional reputation would agree to lend its medium for a hatchet job of an article without as much as committing little effort to finding out the real truth about the Nigerian Army? How is it imaginable that the Nigerian Army that has distinguished itself as a worthy contributor to global peace and security through regional, continental and international peace keeping and peace support operations would be characterised as “Mighty on paper”? How can the Nigerian Army that has restored democracies, brought peace to troubled lands and stabilised the sub-region through the dint of hard work, commitment to duty, discipline and professionalism be so denigrated?

“Is it the ‘ghost soldiers’ of the Nigerian Army that have weathered the storm of terrorism and insurgency of Boko Haram and Islamic State of West African Province Terrorists (ISWAP) in the north eastern part of the country and parts of the Lake Chad region?

“In case the Economist magazine and those who fed it all the lies it published do not know, the Nigerian Army working in a joint environment, has been able to stop ISWAP, a very formidable international terrorist organisation in its tracks, in spite of all the obstacles, including arm sale blackouts on its way. The Economist and its ilk ought to have known that the Nigerian Army has long distinguished itself as a professional force that does not toy with accountability nor shirk from its statutory responsibility of defending Nigeria from external aggression or internal insurrection.”

The army added that despite the content of the article, it remains “undeterred, undistracted and totally unfazed by the harebrained assertions contained in that silly report”.

The Cable

Little more than six decades ago, as Nigeria was nearing independence, even those who were soon to govern Africa’s largest country had their doubts about whether it would hold together. British colonists had drawn a border around land that was home to more than 250 ethnic groups. Obafemi Awolowo, a politician of that era, evoked Metternich, fretting that “Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression.”

The early years of independence seemed to prove him right. Coup followed coup. Ethnic pogroms helped spark a civil war that cost 1m lives, as the Southeastern region calling itself Biafra tried to break away and was ruthlessly crushed. Military rule was the norm until 1999. Despite this inauspicious start, Nigeria is now a powerhouse. Home to one in six sub-Saharan Africans, it is the continent’s most boisterous democracy. Its economy, the largest, generates a quarter of Africa’s GDP. Nollywood makes more titles than any other country’s film industry bar Bollywood. Three of sub-Saharan Africa’s four fintech “unicorns” (startups valued at more than $1bn) are Nigerian.

Why, then, do most young Nigerians want to emigrate? One reason is that they are scared. Jihadists are carving out a caliphate in the Northeast; gangs of kidnappers are terrorising the Northwest; the fire of Biafran secessionism has been rekindled in the oil-rich Southeast. The violence threatens not just Nigeria’s 200m people, but also the stability of the entire region that surrounds them.

Readers who do not follow Nigeria closely may ask: what’s new? Nigeria has been corrupt and turbulent for decades. What has changed of late, though, is that jihadism, organised crime and political violence have grown so intense and widespread that most of the country is sliding towards ungovernability. In the first nine months of 2021 almost 8,000 people were directly killed in various conflicts. Hundreds of thousands more have perished because of hunger and disease caused by fighting. More than 2m have fled their homes.

The jihadist threat in the Northeast has metastasised. A few years ago, an area the size of Belgium was controlled by Boko Haram, a group of zealots notorious for enslaving young girls. Now, Boko Haram is being supplanted by an affiliate of Islamic State that is equally brutal but more competent, and so a bigger danger to Nigeria. In the Southeast, demagogues are stirring up ethnic grievances and feeding the delusion that one group, the Igbos, can walk off with all the country’s oil, the source of about half of government revenues. President Muhammadu Buhari has hinted that Biafran separatism will be dealt with as ruthlessly now as it was half a century ago.

Meanwhile, across wide swathes of Nigeria, a collapse in security and state authority has allowed criminal gangs to run wild. In the first nine months of this year some 2,200 people were kidnapped for ransom, more than double the roughly 1,000 abducted in 2020. Perhaps a million children are missing school for fear that they will be snatched.

Two factors help explain Nigeria’s increasing instability: a sick economy and a bumbling government. Slow growth and two recessions have made Nigerians poorer, on average, each year since oil prices fell in 2015. Before Covid-19, fully 40% of them were below Nigeria’s extremely low poverty line of about $1 a day. If Nigeria’s 36 states were stand-alone countries, more than one-third would be categorised by the World Bank as “low-income” (less than $1,045 a head). Poverty combined with stagnation tends to increase the risk of civil conflict.

Economic troubles are compounded by a government that is inept and heavy-handed. Buhari, who was elected in 2015, turned an oil shock into a recession by propping up the naira and barring many imports in the hope this would spur domestic production. Instead he sent annual food inflation soaring above 20%. He has failed to curb corruption, which breeds resentment. Many Nigerians are furious that they see so little benefit from the country’s billions of petrodollars, much of which their rulers have squandered or stolen. Many politicians blame rival ethnic or religious groups, claiming they have taken more than their fair share. This wins votes, but makes Nigeria a tinderbox.

When violence erupts, the government does nothing or cracks heads almost indiscriminately. Nigeria’s army is mighty on paper. But many of its soldiers are “ghosts” who exist only on the payroll, and much of its equipment is stolen and sold to insurgents. The army is also stretched thin, having been deployed to all of Nigeria’s states. The police are understaffed, demoralised and poorly trained. Many supplement their low pay by robbing the public they have sworn to protect.

To stop the slide towards lawlessness, Nigeria’s government should make its own forces obey the law. Soldiers and police who murder or torture should be prosecuted. That no one has been held accountable for the slaughter of perhaps 15 peaceful demonstrators against police abuses in Lagos last year is a scandal. The secret police should stop ignoring court orders to release people who are being held illegally. This would not just be morally right, but also practical: young men who see or experience state brutality are more likely to join extremist groups.

Things don’t have to fall apart

Second, Nigeria needs to beef up its police. Niger state, for instance, has just 4,000 officers to protect 24m people. Local cops would be better at stopping kidnappings and solving crimes than the current federal force, which is often sent charging from one trouble spot to another. Money could come from cutting wasteful spending by the armed forces on jet fighters, which are not much use for guarding schools. Britain and America, which help train Nigeria’s army, could also train detectives. Better policing could let the army withdraw from areas where it is pouring fuel on secessionist fires.

The biggest barrier to restoring security is not a lack of ideas, nor of resources. It is the complacency of Nigeria’s cosseted political elite—safe in their guarded compounds and the well-defended capital. Without urgent action, Nigeria may slip into a downward spiral from which it will struggle to emerge.

The Economist

The Nigerian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), known as the eNaira, will officially be unveiled by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja on Sunday.

According to a statement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the digital currency was coming after detailed research,  spanning many years. 

It reads that, “the launch of the eNaira is a culmination of several years of research work by the CentralBank of Nigeria in advancing the boundaries of payments system in order to make financial transactions easier and seamless for every strata of the society.    

Following series of engagements with relevant stakeholders including the banking community,   fintech operators, merchants and indeed,  a cross   section of Nigerians, the CBN designed the digital currency, which shall be activated on Monday, October 25, 2021.  

“The eNaira therefore marks a major step forward in the evolution of money and the CBN is committed to ensuring that the eNaira, like the physical Naira, is accessible by everyone.

“Given that the  eNaira is a journey, the unveiling marks the first step in that journey, which will continue with a series of further modifications, capabilities and enhancements to the platforms.  

“The  CBN  will  continue to work with relevant  partners  to  ensure  a seamless process that will benefit every user, particularly those in the rural areas and the unbanked population.

“Since the eNaira is a new product, and amongst the first CBDCs in the world, we have put a structure to promptly address any issue that might arise from the pilot implementation of the eNaira. Accordingly,   following   Monday’s   formal   launch   by   the   President,  the Bank will further engage various   stakeholders as we enter a new age consistent with   global  financial advancement.

“The theme of the eNaira is: “Same Naira, more possibilities”.

 

 

The Nigerian Union of Journalists, (NUJ) Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council and the Coalition of Non- Governmental Organisations led by the Human Right Writers Association (HURIWA), have accused the Security agencies of culpability in the disappearance of Mr. Tordue Salem a political reporter with the Vanguard Newspaper.

Chairman of the Council, Comrade Emmanuel Ogbeche and Emmanuel Onwubiko of (HURIWA) spoke at a joint press conference held in Abuja over the disappearance of the political reporter.

Salem was reported missing a week ago by his family as he did not return home on Wednesday and his office could not tell of his where about the next day as he did not show up for work.

Ogbeche maintained that issues around the missing journalist do not point to a kidnap by any bandit as they have not reached the family since he was declared missing a week ago.

He noted that, it was a bad development for the profession and the government human right records.

He threatened that if the journalist is not released the Union will embark on a protest match to the office of the IGP to demand his release.

“This is not a case of kidnapping. The Council will remain convinced that if it were the kidnappers they would have made contact with his family or his employers which have not been the case.

“When Mr. Tordue Salem, was declared missing by her colleagues, we quickly informed the police, as well as the Department of State security.”

But as we speak, they have not reached out to us. There is no concrete reason to believe that they are making efforts to find out where he was whisked and kept. 

“For this, we believe that the security agencies are culpable in his disappearance.

Comrade Ogbeche said “the mother of all protest will come if the government refused to act on the digital foot prints of this age to find the journalist.

“We are giving them 24 hours to come up with concrete explanations. When that is not done, we will be forced to go to the Inspector General of police to make a public demand.

“You understand? So that the whole world will witness that a journalist went missing and the Nigerian government has failed in its responsibility to ensure this constitutional guarantee, to protect its citizens.

He urged journalists to take issues of physical and online security, very seriously.

Emmanuel Onwubiko, Human Rights Writers Association, while expressing the support of the civil society coalition said, “We totally support what our chairman has said. They are very factual and they’re accurate.”

He noted that many missing persons were later reported by victims of human right abuses who got freed and mentioned that they shared cell with such persons during their incarceration.

He called on the government to allow a team of civil society organisations to visit cells on defined intervals to mitigate situations of missing persons held by the state.

“Even the International community has even written a booklet on the cases of forced disappearances.

“A lot of people will just go missing and at the end of the day, the only way you find out that such person is in the custody of the security agencies is that, if somebody somewhere manages to come out of those detention facilities, the person will now inform the parents or go to the media.

“We totally believe that this guy was made to disappear by person, either working for the state or persons working directly for the government.

“That is why we have consistently advocated the practice of either weekly or monthly visitation to detention camps all over the country.”

Reactions have been trailing the accusation made by the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF and minister of Justice , Abubakar Malami against the duo of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho who were agitating for self actualisation of their people. 

Malami had alleged that Kanu has questions to answer over  Akunyili's husband, Gulak, others' death while Igboho was accused of having link with jailed terrorism sponsor.

 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo slams Malami

But reacting to allegation by the Malami-led committee, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said it was unfortunate that IPOB would be blamed for the crises rocking the South-East, including killings by Fulani herdsmen.

The spokesman for Ohanaeze, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, in an interview, said, “Our understanding of Malami’s address is that he has heaped all the criminalities across the country over the period on IPOB.

“It appears right now that investigations are already concluded on who killed Dr Chike Akunyili, the husband of the late Dora Akunyili and Ahmed Gulak and those who destroyed the palace of the Oba of Lagos. His remarks also showed that he already knows the killers.

“As the Attorney General of the Federation, whatever remark Malami makes should be highly founded on facts. It’s not supposed to be involved in speculations.

 

“If, on the other hand, he has not finished the investigation, what he is saying is mere hyperbole.

“If investigations are now completed, he owes it a duty to let the people of Nigeria know who killed Gulak and Dr Akunyili and we will now see the linkage between those people and IPOB.

“Otherwise, one little falsehood or error in this whole will destroy it and render this whole thing invalid. We want to state again that reeling out all the crimes that have been going on across the country is not a solution. Ohanaeze Ndigbo right from time believes that the Federal Government should adopt dialogue on this matter.

“Irrespective of whether you call them terrorists or not, we’re saying that adopting military or jackboot approach is an unwinnable war. We believe using dialogue or alternative dispute resolution will go a long way to achieving peace.”

 

Igboho debunks allegations, dares Malami to name alleged lawmaker

Also, Igboho denied the allegation against him that he was being financed by a Boko Haram sponsor, Muhammad.

While reacting to the allegations through a statement by his counsel, Chief Yomi Aliyyu (SAN), the Yoruba Nation agitator challenged the AGF to name the lawmaker who he claimed transferred money to him.

The statement was titled, “Chief Sunday Igboho is a businessman, not a terrorist.”

It read in part, “Our attention has been drawn to a text of press conference by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice wherein he fruitlessly tried to paint our client and those patronising his car trade as terrorists and/or financiers of terrorists.

“I have gone through the text. Sunday was alleged to have transferred the sum of N12.7m to Abbal Bako & Sons owned by Abdullahi Umar.

“Transferring money to bureau de change to buy dollars is what is done by every businessman of our client’s calibre. Thank God that his passports and various bills of ladings were carted away by DSS during the ungodly invasion of July 1, 2021.

“Thus, so far there is no evidence of receipt of money from Abbal Bako & Sons or Abdullahi Umar going by the text conference. What the AGF stated are mere conjectures. Not a hard fact.

“Our client according to him paid Umar and not vice versa thus belying what the Honourable Attorney General of Federation earlier said that Chief Sunday Adeyemo is being financed by people. The picture the learned AGF wanted to paint is that our client is being financed by Abdullah Umar allegedly involved in terrorist financing. Who is now financing who?

“Again, Chief Adeyemo is a car dealer trading in the name of Adesun International Concept Ltd. Does it mean that anybody buying a car from him or selling a car to him is a terrorist?”

The counsel said Igboho was not involved in the activities of Yoruba self-determination until 2020, saying finding over N273m turnover between October 2013 and September 2020 showed that he was not a poor man.

“I challenge the AGF to mention the lawmaker that sent money to Chief Sunday Adeyemo for terrorism act,” saying such a person would be taken to court.

“Up till date, our client has not been prosecuted or found liable for any criminal act or terrorism. There is also a valid and subsisting court judgement that agitation for self-determination is not an act of terrorism but the fundamental human right of any citizen.

“My learned brother Silk and Hon AGF knows that suspicion, no matter how great, cannot grant conviction.

 “Chief Sunday Adeyemo is not a terrorist but a campaigner for self-determination.”

 

Malami’s reasons shallow – Akintoye

Also reacting, Yoruba Nation arrowhead, Prof Banji Akintoye, accused the AGF of being shallow and inconsistent with his accusations heaped on Igboho.

The octogenarian said it was shallow of the AGF to link a so-called transaction in 2013 to the struggle for self-determination which began in 2020.

In a statement on Friday by his spokesman, Maxwell Adeleye, the 86-year-old scholar and historian, said Malami’s accusation was “coined to tarnish a noble and constitutional struggle of the Yoruba people.”

The leader of the umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination group, Ilana Omo Oodua, said the AGF’s statement linking Ighoho and some indicted sponsors of terrorism “is empty, watery, cruel and irresponsible, stating that the Nigerian government is just chasing shadows and attempting to bully the struggle for self-determination of the Yoruba people out of relevance.”

“We have read the statement credited to Mr Abubakar Malami, on behalf of the Nigerian Government. Our preliminary position is that having been defeated legally and morally, the government of Nigeria is now chasing shadows, bullying the truth, and making an inconsistent attempt to tarnish a noble struggle of the Yoruba people,” Akintoye said in a statement.

It was titled, ‘Terrorism: Nigerian Government Chasing Shadows, Inconsistent, Attempting to Bully a Noble, Constitutional Struggle of the People for Freedom – Ilana Omo Oodua’.

 

Similarly, the Coordinating counsel for Igboho, Olasupo Ojo,  also described the allegation by Malami as unreasonable.

Reacting, Ojo said, “Igboho buys cars from Dubai, Germany, from the United States and other places. He has to pay or is he going to be asking from the person who sells cars to say, ‘Are you a terrorist?’ It is very stupid.

 “All those who have been exposed as sponsors of terrorism, have they been arrested? Nobody has been charged to court. So, they are just ranting by all means, trying to look for a charge to hang him with.

“We are challenging them to come out with the details, publish it and we will defend it totally.

“Everybody knows Sunday Igboho is a businessman; he imports and sells cars to legislators, to politicians and others.

“So, the money that was given to him is for what purpose. They (government) should ask the owners of the accounts; have they interviewed them and they said the money they gave to Igboho is for terrorism or the vehicle that they purchased from Sunday Igboho? It is baseless and unreasonable for the government to conclude just like that.

“The allegation is defamatory of the character of Chief Sunday Igboho and we are going to sue them for defamation of character, we will sue them.”

 

Punch

The  Abolongo Correctional Centre in Oyo town in Oyo State was on Friday invaded by gunmen.

Nigerian Newstrack gathered that gunmen attacked the facility with explosives around 10.30pm and set the inmates free.

A search by security operatives for the fleeing inmates has reportedly begun.

The Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Command of Nigerian Correctional Services, Lanre Anjonrin, confirmed the attack, saying, “I am there now and we are assessing the level of damage done. We will make our findings known later.”