Today's Headlines:Protest rocks Kano, DHQ warns coup promoters; Bandits kill 2, abduct Many in Enugu
Protest rocks Kano, DHQ warns coup promoters
Anger over the planned military action against Niger Republic coup plotters took a disturbing dimension as the Nigerian Embassy in Niamey, the capital of Niger, was attacked by Nigerien protesters, who besieged the facility.
Source: Vanguard
The angry protesters stormed the embassy located at Boulevard des Ambassades in protest against Nigeria’s role in the proposed kinetic action by the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, to reinstate ousted President Mohammed Bouzum. This happened just as scores took to the streets of Kano to kick against the mission, which has been largely opposed by most Nigerians.
The Kano protesters, who displayed Nigerien flags and placards in solidarity, chanted anti-military action songs as they walked around the metropolis. Some of the placards read: ‘War against Niger is injustice’. ‘It is the handiwork of America’. ‘It is the handiwork of Westerners’. ‘It is Islam that we want’. ‘It is justice that we want’. ‘Niger is ours’”.
Kidnappers kill two, abduct many in Enugu
Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have reportedly killed two people and abducted many others in the Enugu community.
Source: Punch papers
The incident, our correspondent gathered, took place on Friday evening at Neke on Ugwogo-Neke-Ikem Road in the Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of the state. Although the police were yet to react to the incident, the number of persons abducted and their whereabouts were still not known. An eyewitness, Kingsley Odoh, who spoke to journalists in Enugu on Saturday, said the incident happened between 7:30 and 8 pm on Friday.
According to him, the suspected kidnappers swooped on passersby along the road, shot aimlessly at incoming vehicles, and killed two persons. They, however, kidnapped passengers of a bus plying Enugu-Ugwogo-Neke-Ikem Road. Odoh said, ‘Chief Cyril Mbah from Neke Odenigbo-Nike was gunned down by suspected kidnappers along Ugwogo/Isi-uzo Road, near Neke Odenigbo junction.
Soyinka decries the imprisonment of Bala
Novel laureate Prof Wile Soyinka has decried the continued imprisonment of a humanist Mubarak Bala who has been in prison in Abuja in the past three years. He said Nigerians should interrogate how religious practices affect the rights and freedoms of the people.
Source: The Nation papers
Soyinka spoke in Ikeja, Lagos at the launch of “A Prison Letter to a President,” an open epistle that Mubarak Bala, a humanist, wrote to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Bala is currently serving a 24-year jail sentence for dumping Islam for atheism. The event was organized by the CEO of Quida Books, Lola Shoneyin.
Soyinka who blamed these unjust actions on the quest for power and dominance said: “So the major thing I want to say is this: to insist that It’s time we had a real indaba, a real conference, a heart-to-heart continuing discourse on religion and society in this country.
DHQ lambasts agitators for a coup in Nigeria
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday warned ‘highly unpatriotic, wicked’ Nigerians agitating for military rule in the country to desist forthwith.
Source: The Nation papers
The armed forces said they would not get involved in any act that will sabotage the hard-earned democracy in our country. Spokesman of the DHQ, Brig.- Gen. Tukur Gusau, responding to online reports asking the military to interfere in Nigeria’s democracy said the military was not interested in any attempt to distract it from its constitutional responsibilities.
The DHQ said this in a statement through its spokesperson, Brig.- Gen. Tukur Gusau. The online publication cited welfare issues in the Armed Forces. But Gusau said that the leadership of the AFN gives priority to the welfare of its personnel. “We detest any attempt by any individual or group to instigate the law-abiding Armed Forces of Nigeria to embark on any unconstitutional change of government in our country.”
Bash760 (
)
