Headline

HURIWA Laments As ECOWAS Revelations On Boko Haram Indicts Nigerian Govt

Published

4 years ago

December 7, 2021

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has lamented the President Muhammadu Buhari government’s lack of efforts to evolve the needed intelligence gathering infrastructure to track the movements of cash by terrorists and their masterminds in Nigeria.

HURIWA said this while reacting to a recent statement by ECOWAS group, the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, (GIABA) which stated that terrorist groups operating in the North East, Boko Haram and ISWAP have continued to mobilise, move and utilise funds through the nation’s formal financial and commercial system.

HURIWA said that the Buhari government has failed to play effective oversight roles on the regulator of Nigerian banking system including financial institutions such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

The right group pointed out that government officials were more interested in trading in the BDCS in foreign currency sourced cheaply from the apex bank.

GIABA in its revelation said that Boko Haram splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province, moved about N18bn ($36m) generated from trading and taxing communities in the Lake Chad region through the Nigerian financial system annually.

HURIWA sees this as a historic indictment of the current administration, adding that the Buhari government is not committed towards waging determined counter terrorism war.

HURIWA said that it was shameful that Buhari, who head the ECOWAS body is lacking in adequate insight into the activities of these dreaded terrorists groups in terms of their international links and financial activities.

The human rights organisation said it was scandalous indictments on the part of the Buhari and his government and to say that since the year 2015 when this administration assumed power, the Defence and related services have been highly budgeted for.

HURIWA said that the recent report shows that perhaps government was busy frittering away the resources on frivolities instead of developing the necessary infrastructures to efficiently hunt down the sponsors of terrorism in Nigeria.

The human rights advocacy group said this In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Director of Media, Miss Zainab Yusuf.

HURIWA noted that while the United Arab Emirates is successfully prosecuting funders of terrorists in Nigeria, the apex bank is more interested in going after financial assets of organisers of the #EndSAR protest.

The group said that it seems as if Buhari is more interested in granting amnesty to those his government described as repentant Boko Haram terrorists.

The rights group, therefore, urged the Federal Government to stop playing ethno-religious politics with the fight against terrorists.

Headline

Morocco Jails Student One Year Over Gen Z Protest

Published

8 hours ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

A student arrested during Morocco’s youth-led protests has been sentenced to one year in prison, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.

The case marks the first publicly known prison sentence linked to the kingdom’s Gen Z demonstrations, which have been held near-daily between late September and last week to demand social and political reforms.

The student was charged with “participating in an unauthorised and unarmed gathering” and “insulting the judicial police by providing false information”, lawyer Mohamed Nouini said.

“The ruling is unfair, and we will appeal,” he added, arguing that sit-ins did not require authorisation as per a Supreme Court precedent.

The lawyer said his client was arrested on September 30, three days after the protests erupted in the North African country.

According to a report by news website Hespress, citing another lawyer, the student’s arrest was “an unfortunate coincidence” as he was in Casablanca for a family visit.

The other lawyer, Mohamed Lakhdar, told the judge the student had “not insulted” police nor provided false information, telling them he “was just a student”, according to the report.

Hundreds were arrested during the early days of the largely peaceful demonstrations.

Some cities had seen spates of violence and acts of vandalism, while authorities have said three people were killed by police acting in “self-defence” during clashes in a village near Agadir.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has said roughly 550 people are facing prosecution on suspicion of joining the protests, with some still in detention.

The organisers of the online-based movement behind the nationwide protests, the GenZ 212 youth collective, remain unknown.

The collective has called for “peaceful sit-ins” on Saturday and demanded the release of those arrested during the demonstrations.

The protest came after the deaths of eight pregnant women during Caesarean sections at a hospital in Agadir.

But protesters have also demanded reforms to the education system and a change of government.
AFP

Headline

Trump Refiles $15bn Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times

Published

9 hours ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump has refiled a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, court documents show, weeks after it was thrown out by a federal judge.

Trump has intensified his long-established hostility toward the media since his return to the White House, and the suit is one of numerous attacks against news organizations he accuses of bias against him.

The Times’ complaint was thrown out in September because District Judge Steven Merryday took exception to its florid writing, repetitive and laudatory praise of Trump, and its excessive 85-page length.

The suit filed Thursday in Florida and seen by AFP runs to less than half the length, at 40 pages.

It takes aim at “false, defamatory, and malicious publications”, highlighting a book and two Times articles.

The lawsuit named the newspaper, three Times reporters and the publisher Penguin Random House as defendants.

It accuses them of making defamatory statements against Trump “with actual malice.”

“The statements in question wrongly defame and disparage President Trump’s hard-earned professional reputation, which he painstakingly built for decades” before entering the White House, the lawsuit says.

The court was asked to grant compensatory damages of not less than $15 billion and additional punitive damages “in an amount to be determined upon trial.”

Trump’s attacks on media outlets have seen him restrict access, badmouth journalists critical of his administration, and bring lawsuits demanding huge amounts of compensation.

In July, Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion after it reported on the existence of a book and a letter he allegedly sent to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit over election coverage on CBS News’ flagship show “60 Minutes” for $16 million the same month. He had alleged that the program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.

AFP

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Italian Journalist’s Car Bombed, No Casualties

Published

9 hours ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

A bomb destroyed the vehicle of a prominent Italian journalist overnight, without causing casualties, his investigative television news show announced Friday.

Sigfrido Ranucci’s car blew up in an explosion in Pomezia, near Rome, that also damaged the family’s other car and the house next door, according to Report, which broadcasts on RAI public television.

“The force of the explosion was so strong that it could have killed anyone passing by at the moment,” it said in a statement on X.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni strongly condemned what she called a “serious act of intimidation”.

Inside Kwara Community, Ijara-Isin, Where Residents Have Own ‘Currency’

“The freedom and independence of information are non-negotiable values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend,” she wrote on X.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he had ordered an increase in the journalist’s security “to the maximum”.

He called the attack a “cowardly and extremely serious act that represents an attack not only on the person but on the freedom of the press and the fundamental values of our democracy”.

The Report show is known for its in-depth investigative reports.

According to the campaign group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Italy ranks 49th in the world in terms of press freedom.

“Journalists who investigate organised crime and corruption are systematically threatened and sometimes subjected to physical violence for their investigative work,” it said in its latest update.

About 20 journalists currently live under permanent police protection after being the targets of intimidation and attacks, it added.

AFP