The Nigeria Police and other security agencies in the country have been urged to borrow a leaf from saner climes by desisting from harassing and brutalising journalists in the course of carrying out their lawful duties.
Secretary of 2019 Press Week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo State Council, Mr. Uyi Osaretin, made the appeal in an exclusive interview with Info Daily, Thursday, shortly after a procession/walk against violent crime in Benin City and Nigeria at large.
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The procession/walk tagged: ‘walk against violent crime’, was part of activities to mark the 2019 Press Week in the Council with the general theme: ‘Nigeria’s Economic & Security Challenges: The Way Out.’
Uyi said journalists decided to take a walk against police brutality against journalists, kidnapping, thuggery, cultism and violent crime in our society, which according to him have been rampant.
“So, any act of violent against members of the society, journalists, we walk against it and we took the walk to the Ministry of Communication and Orientation“, he added.
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Speaking further on police and other security agencies brutality against journalists, suggested that the policing in the country should be more of civil and more friendly as they (police) proffess.
He said, “They should try as much as possible not to be violent against the persons they profess to protect partucularly journalist. Let them not brutalised journalists just because they are acting the script of whosoever they are walking for.”
Members of the NUJ in a procession against violent on Thursday in Benin City. Photo credit: Info Daily
Uyi recommended the government passed a bill that protect journalists and other members of the society against brutality.
“We even want a situation the government of the day will do a bill that will tend to protect journalists against brutality. If that, which of course the campaigns have been on, we just decided to re-echo it by taking a walk”, he said.
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Earlier, Chairman of the Council, Sir Roland Osakue, while leading members of the Union in the walk, said it was a signal to outsider that journalists in the state are against all sorts of violence in the state and Nigeria at large.
He noted that cultism, kidnapping, land speculation, armed robbery, thuggery are alien to our society and journalists are against such.
Kebbi State Government has confirmed that a group of armed bandits attacked a Mobile Police post in Makuku, located in the Zuru Local Government Area, and made away with an undisclosed number of rifles.
The Director of Security at the Cabinet Office, Abdulrahman Zagga, disclosed this to journalists in Bagudo Local Government Area on Saturday.
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According to Zagga, the mobile police post, which was manned by visiting officers, came under heavy attack from a large group of bandits numbering in the hundreds. Despite engaging the attackers in a fierce gun battle, the officers were ultimately overpowered.
“The bandits burnt a Toyota Hilux patrol vehicle belonging to the unit and escaped with an undisclosed number of rifles,” he stated.
Zagga clarified that it was not a police station that was attacked, as some reports claimed, but a temporary mobile police post. He added that the mobile police officers were forced to withdraw due to the overwhelming number of assailants.
He further revealed that upon learning of the attack, the state government requested air support from the Nigerian Air Force, which helped force the bandits to retreat.
“No casualties were recorded during the incident,” Zagga said. “Most of the bandits infiltrated from neighbouring Zamfara and Niger States.”
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He explained that Makuku village shares a border with Niger State, making it vulnerable to such attacks.
Zagga also emphasised that, unlike some neighbouring states, Kebbi State has no peace agreements with any bandit groups or their leaders.
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He pointed out that informants remain a major obstacle in the fight against banditry and noted that attacks tend to intensify during the rainy season due to extortion tactics used against farming communities.
“Once they demand money from a community and it is paid, the bandits may temporarily leave that community alone. But once the money runs out, they move on to another community to extort. That’s why many communities remain in constant fear,”he added.
However, Kebbi State Command Police image maker, CSP, Nafiu Abubakar, could not be reached for comment as of the time of filing this report.
A mother of six, Latinate Sanusi, has told a Shari’a court in Magajin Gari, Kaduna, Kaduna State, that she cannot leave her former husband’s house after three pronouncement of divorce.
Latinate stated this in response to Abdulrazak Yunusa’s prayer to confirm the three pronouncement of divorce he made to her and compel her to leave his house.
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“My children are all girls and I intend to stay so that I can take care of them; after all he does not provide most of their needs,” she said.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the complainant told the court that he takes care of his family adding that he divorced her because she was not submissive.
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The judge, Malam Kabir Muhammad after listening to both parties confirmed the three pronouncement of divorce between the couple.
He explained that there was no marriage between the couple until the woman remarries.
“What is before me is a suit on confirmation of divorce; the issue of children custody can be filed as a fresh case,”he said.
An Area Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, has dissolved the Islamic marriage between one Mujidat Abdullahi and Muyideen Raji based on mutual agreement.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the presiding judge, Toyin Aluko, in his ruling said that the husband sent a letter to the court, saying that he has agreed to the divorce application of his wife.
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Aluko said that since the two parties have agreed to divorce, there was no need to prolong the case.
He added that marriage should not be forced on anyone.
Aluko, therefore, dissolved their marriage and awarded custody of the only child of their marriage to the wife, due to the child’s young age.