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Sit-at-home For 10 Years, Don’t Bring It To North, Arewa Youths Warn IPOB

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The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has warned the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, over its call that the Middle Belt should join in shutting down Nigeria.

Yerima Shettima, National President of AYCF, said IPOB and the Southeast can sit-at-home for 10 years, but they should stay away from the North.

Recall that IPOB had urged the Middle Belt and Oduduwa Nation agitators to join its members in shutting down Nigeria starting from October 28.

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The pro-Biafra group vowed to shut down Nigeria for one month if its leader, Nnamdi Kanu is not produced in court on October 28.

Reacting, Shettima said IPOB’s action was a deliberate attempt to worsen Nigeria’s security challenges.

In a statement he signed and forwarded to DAILY POST on Tuesday, Shettima stressed that the North would not be a party to “a deliberate, politically-motivated plan to undermine or worsen the nation’s current security challenges.”

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He stressed that IPOB’s move to “export” its activities to the North would be resisted.

The AYCF National President lamented that Southeast governors seem to be okay with the activities of the pro-Biafra agitators in the region.

He said since the governors of the Southeast seem to be satisfied with the activities of IPOB, “we hope they will continue with the sit-at-home for another ten years and we wish them the very best of luck.

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READ ALSO: Group Urges Northern Governors To Seal Shops Closed In Solidarity With IPOB’s Sit-at-home

“We know the southeast is IPOB’s home but exporting their activities to the North will be faced with massive resistance from all lovers of peace in the North.”

Shettima also urged Northern governors to ensure that IPOB does not infiltrate the region with their activities.

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He added: “We call on northern governors to step up action in order to ensure this outlawed terror gang called IPOB does not infiltrate the region. We also expect the governors to ensure that any northerner who shuts down his shop in solidarity with IPOB, that shop should be sealed forever.

“And for the avoidance of doubt, we will not fold our arms and watch the North get further destabilized by a violent strategy, whether in Kogi, Benue, Plateau, Niger or any state in Northern Nigeria because our hands are already full with challenges of insecurity and we are praying fervently day and night to find lasting peace”.

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Morocco Jails Student One Year Over Gen Z Protest

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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.

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

READ ALSO:Why Wike Is Always Attacking Peter Obi — Obidient Movement

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

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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.

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READ ALSO:CAF Champions League: Replicate Ivory Coast Success In Morocco, Alli Charges Edo Queens

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.

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

READ ALSO:Ghana To Take More West African Deportees From US

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

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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

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Trump Refiles $15bn Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times

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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.

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

READ ALSO:Burkina Rejects US Deportees, Calls Trump’s Proposal Indecent

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

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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.

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READ ALSO:Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

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.

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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

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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.

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

READ ALSO:Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

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“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”.

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READ ALSO:Dogs Attack, Kill Nigerian Woman In Italy

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.

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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

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