Headline

JUST IN: 3 Govs Placed Under Watch By Security Agencies

Published

2 years ago

March 19, 2022

Editor

Three serving governors in the country have run into trouble with security agencies over their alleged plot to incite violence that may engulf the northern part of the country, if not checkmated.

The three governors, who are in their final term of office, are reportedly drawn from the North East, North Central and the South-South geopolitical zones of the country.

The three governors, according to information available to Vanguard, clandestinely met in a secret location and mapped out their plan to stage a nationwide protest that would take the form of the 2020 #ENDSARS protest and bring the nation to its knees with a view to making Nigerians kick against the current administration and force a change.

Under the plot, which a foremost security agency is monitoring, the North East governor is to kick start the groundwork for the planned mass protest with a meeting with key stakeholders from the North in Kaduna with the allegation that the government has marginalized certain groups in his state and should be rejected in the 2023 polls.

On the other hand, the two vociferous North Central and South-South governors are to tackle the federal government for ‘woefully failing’ to provide basic needs for Nigerians in the areas of fuel, power, and education for children while promoting an ethnic and religious agenda at the expense of national interest.

Apparently acting the script, the North East governor reportedly met with several interest groups such as civil society organizations, labour leaders, students and disgruntled politicians in Kaduna earlier in the week to seek their consent for the planned mass protests.

The Kaduna meeting, according to the security agency, discussed in detail how to mobilize aggrieved Nigerian students who have been forced home by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, faceoff with the federal government, CSOs, NGOs, and aggrieved politicians to join the planned mass protests so as to register the kind of impact that the 2020 ENDSARS protest recorded nationwide.

According to the plot being hatched by the three governors, the planned mass protest is to move Nigerians to reject the current government and choose a new one as the next election is around the corner.

But a top security official, who is monitoring the actions of the three governors, told Sunday Vanguard that while they were not against freedom of association and protest, they were worried the planned protests could escalate into national violence that would be difficult to control as it was the case with ENDSARS in 2020.

“It is for this reason that our agency and sister security organisations have placed the three governors under constant watch and we are going to monitor their activities to ensure that they do not plunge the nation into avoidable crisis,” a senior official of the federal government said last night.

“We have also deployed our men to flashpoints to ensure that the country is not pushed into the precipice by malevolent politicians who have virtually come to the end of their tenure and do not care if the country burns or not,” the official said last night.

VANGUARD.

Headline

Iran President Had ‘Lot Of Blood On His Hands’ – White House

Published

8 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Editor

Iran President Ebrahim Raisi had a “lot of blood on his hands”, the White House said on Monday despite Washington offering condolences after his death in a helicopter crash.

“This was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, saying Raisi was responsible for “atrocious” rights abuses in Iran and had supported regional proxies including Hamas.

Kirby said, however, that “as in any other case, we certainly regret in general the loss of life and offered official condolences as appropriate.”

Earlier, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced on Monday five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash.

“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” said Khamenei in an official statement a day after the death of Raisi and other officials in the crash in East Azerbaijan province.

Headline

Iran Gets Interim President After Raisi’s Death

Published

16 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Editor

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assigned vice president Mohammad Mokhber to assume interim duties after the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash a day earlier.

“In accordance with Article 131 of the constitution, Mokhber is in charge of leading the executive branch,” said Khamenei in a statement, adding that Mokhber will be required to work with the heads of legislative and judicial branches to prepare for presidential elections “within a maximum period of 50 days”.

Recall that President Raisi was confirmed dead on Monday after his helicopter crashed in a mountainous region of the country.

Raisi was travelling with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who also died in the accident.

Rescue teams had been scouring the area since Sunday afternoon after a helicopter carrying Raisi, the foreign minister and other officials had gone missing.

Early Monday, relief workers located the missing helicopter, with state TV saying the president had died.

“The servant of Iranian nation, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi has achieved the highest level of martyrdom whilst serving the people,” state television said Monday, with Mehr news agency also saying he was dead.

State television broadcast photos of Raisi, with the voice of a man reciting the Koran playing in the background.

Iran’s vice president for executive affairs Mohsen Mansouri posted on X a Koranic verse used to express condolences.

Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has announced a five days of mourning for President Raisi.

“I announce five days of public mourning and offer my condolences to the dear people of Iran,” said Khamenei in an official statement a day after the death of Raisi and other officials in the crash in East Azerbaijan province.

Headline

UK Threatens To Deport Physically-challenged Nigerian After 38 Years

Published

17 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Editor

The United Kingdom has threatened to deport a physically-challenged Nigerian man, Anthony Olubunmi George, over an alleged forged entry stamp in his passport.

George who has lived in the UK for 38 years, after he left Nigeria at the age of 24 in 1986, according to the Guardian UK.

The 61-year-old Nigerian has no criminal convictions and made several applications for leave to remain in the UK, which the Home Office has rejected, most recently on 7 May.

George’s case became the second African facing a huge disappointment with the UK Home Office after spending several years in Britain.

Vanguard reported last week that a 74-year-old Ghanaian Nelson Shardey, who has resided in the UK since 1977, was refused indefinite leave to remain despite being in the country for most of his adult life.

As the case of the Nigerian, he has never left the UK and has no criminal convictions, with the reports of having two strokes, which left him with problems with speech and mobility in 2019.

When George arrived, Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and Rishi Sunak is the ninth to hold office since George has lived in the UK.

He has endured many periods of homelessness and disclosed he has lost count of the number of friends who have given him shelter over the years, adding that he no longer has any close family in Nigeria.

The Guardian UK said in 2005, his previous solicitors submitted a forged entry stamp in his passport and have subsequently been reported to the police and the legal regulatory bodies.

George told the Guardian he knew nothing about the passport stamp until many years later. His current lawyer, Naga Kandiah of MTC Solicitors, cited his poor previous legal representation as the reason for George’s problems.

In his most recent refusal, Home Office officials said: “Unfortunately this is not something that is considered an exceptional circumstance.”

Kandiah has lodged an appeal against the latest refusal.

A previous Home Office rejection of his case states: “It’s open to your family and friends to visit you in Nigeria.”

George said, “I don’t know how many different sofas I’ve slept on – too many to count. I don’t have my life, living the way I’m living now. My health problems since I had my stroke are my biggest worry. All I’m asking for is some kindness from the Home Office.”