By Ezinwanne Onwuka
● Women protest non-stop harassment, raping by herders.
Disturbed by the daily harassment, maiming, raping and killing of scores in their community by herdsmen, the women of the Ekakpamre community in Ughelli South local government area of Delta State took to the streets in protest on Tuesday. They seek intervention from the Nigerian government.
Nomadic herders have been a thorn in the flesh of Ughelli locals and their environs since 2017 but it has become increasingly deadly in the last few months. The herders compete with locals over arable land resources. The protesters went around the community carrying placards with inscriptions such as: “We are being raped and chased from our farms”, “Enough of these molestations by Fulani herdsmen” and “We do not want cows on our farms.”
“Just last week, five women were raped on their farms, and as a result, we can no longer access our cassava farms, either to plant or harvest,” lamented the women leader in the community,” Mrs Loveth Boyi told Vanguard News. The women accused security agencies of complicity as they do nothing to stop or prevent the attacks.
● Nigerian President returns to Abuja after overseas trip
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is back in Nigeria’s capital city Abuja after a week-long working visit abroad. The Nigerian President who is fighting a fierce legal battle to hold on to power until the next election in 2027 landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja at 8:46 p.m. (local time) on Sept. 13.
On departing Nigeria on September 5, Tinubu’s first port of call was New Delhi, India where he joined fellow heads of state and other prominent figures from across the globe at the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
At the end of the Summit on September 10, Tinubu flew to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and brokered a deal with President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to lift the visa ban the Middle Eastern nation placed on Nigeria in October 2022 and effect the resumption of UAE’s Etihad Airways flight operations in Nigeria.
● Nigerians call out Marlian ringleader Naira Marley over the death of former singer Mohbad
Nigerian singer Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Alabama, better known as Mohbad, has passed on at the age of 27, leaving fans and the Nigerian music community in deep mourning.
Mohbad breathed his last on Sept. 12. The cause of his death is yet to be made public, but critics of his former boss, Naira Marley, are raising their suspicions.
Naira Marley, the owner of the Marlian Records music label and leader of the Marlian gang, had a fallout with the promising artist in 2022, a year after Mohbad became part of the Marlian family. Because of the strained relationship, Mohbad terminated his contract with the record label and became independent. He was once assaulted by the Marlian crew.
● Six of Nigeria’s best arrested for using citizens as cash cows
It is often said that the Nigerian policeman is your friend, but many a Nigerian thinks otherwise due to police infamy for blatant acts such as arbitrary arrests, detention and extortion.
These were the reasons for the #EndSARS protest of 2020 by Nigerian youths to demand the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) wing of the Nigeria Police Force, the architect of the travails. Yet, years after the unit was dissolved, the unprofessional, corrupt, and criminal conduct is still rampant.
But on Tuesday, news of a group of the bad eggs in the force who met their Waterloo hit the media. The six-man group, police said, harass and extort money running into millions from citizens, and engage in unauthorized searching and seizing of victims’ mobile phones. The group operating under the guise of “Operation Search and Flush” was paraded along the streets as a show of shame.
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Ezinwanne Onwuka, an independent writer in Abuja, covers politics, culture, and entertainment for TruthNigeria. Reach her on X: @OnwukaEzinwanne.
