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Military Vows To Deal With Looters, Appeals To Protesters To Avoid Mayhem

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The military on Friday warned looters taking advantage of the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests to desist from the destruction of lives and properties.

At a press conference in the nation’s capital Abuja on the second day of the rallies against economic hardship and high cost of living, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, said the extent of destruction experienced on the first day of the demonstrations was “crazy”.

He said the Armed Forces will take action and won’t allow the looting and destruction to fester.

The defence chief said the Bola Tinubu administration has been in power for one year and the government has been doing its best to boost economic activities.

General Musa said the economic crisis and high cost of living in Nigeria is a global phenomenon. He urged Nigerians to give the government time to address the challenges.

He said, “So, we want to call on all Nigerians to understand the government. If you have grievances, which I know people have, a lot of challenges here and there, and it is not only in Nigeria alone; everywhere in the world is facing one economic or security crisis or the other. And so, it is important to understand that we are not alone.

“But what we can do is not allow criminals and individuals that have lost out to take advantage of this to destroy our country. We should realise that these destructions, monies have to be used to replace them so that we can move forward.”

Youths Protest High Living CostTension was palpable in parts of Nigeria on Thursday as the much-touted #EndBadGovernance protests finally kicked off in almost all the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

On the first and second day of the protests, policemen were seen dispersing the demonstrators, mostly youths, using tear gas, even as civil society organisations (CSOs) condemned the action of the police.

The protests turned awry when some hoodlums took advantage of the demonstrations and looted public and private assets.

In a bid to curb the looting, violence and other after-effects of the protests, the Kano, Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Nasarawa, Jigawa and other state governments imposed curfews in volatile local government areas (LGAs) in their states.

Some deaths have also been recorded, as claimed by Amnesty International. The Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun said a policeman was murdered, some cops injured, and police stations burnt.

Propagated on social media, the nationwide protests against economic hardship started on Thursday, August 1, 2024, and have been scheduled to stretch till August 10 across all states of the Federation as well as the nation’s capital Abuja.

Prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last months, as Nigerians battle one of the country’s worst inflation rates and economic crises sparked by the government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.

Some of the demands of the protesters include the restoration of petrol subsidies and the forex regime.

They also want the government to address food shortages, unemployment and wasteful spending by those in power. Other demands are immediate reforms of the electoral umpire INEC and anti-graft agency EFCC with renewed vigour in the fight against corrupt politicians.

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I knew what poverty is when I became Emir – Sanusi Lamido

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“Do we actually love the people or do we just love ruling over them? What are our priorities?

The Emir of Kano and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has said he got to know what poverty truly is when he mounted the throne.

Sanusi said this in a goodwill message at a public lecture with the theme: “Weaponization of poverty as a means of underdevelopment: A case study of Nigeria.”

It was held to commemorate the 60th birthday celebration of former Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, in Abuja, on Saturday.

The former CBN Governor said, “Many of the elites in Nigeria do not know what poverty is.

As an economist, former CBN Governor, I see the numbers. I did not know poverty until I became Emir.

“And you go to the village and see the water they drink, the houses they live in, the two block classrooms without roofs.

“Do we actually love the people or do we just love ruling over them? What are our priorities.?

We make overheads and underpasses for ourselves in the cities while there in the rural areas cannot reach hospitals. We are in crisis, how do we get out, should be our focus.”

Sanusi charged those saddled with the responsibility of leadership to inculcate the virtues of empathy with those they’ve been given a responsibility to lead.

Also speaking at the event, former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai expressed concern that Nigerians kept repeating the same mistake of electing the worst among us into leadership positions.

According to him, “We keep electing people who only know how to grab power but don’t know what to do with it.”

A former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme, Prof. Usman Yusuf, in his intervention, explained that most of the cases being handled in hospitals were not medical.

Yusuf blamed corruption and bad governance for the multidimensional poverty in Nigeria. He emphasised that citizens live up to their responsibilities and vote for what is right.

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Defamation: Natasha will appear in court on Tuesday says Lead Counsel, Idahosa

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West Idahosa (SAN), the lead counsel to suspended senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District of Kogi State, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has confirmed that she will appear in court on Tuesday, as summoned.

However, he expressed uncertainty about whether the Federal Government planned to arraign her on Tuesday.

He said that whatever the plans of the Federal Government, Akpoti-Uduaghan, as a law-abiding citizen, would comply with the court’s directives.

The Federal Government, through the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mohammed Abubakar, filed criminal charges against Akpoti-Uduaghan, alleging that she made defamatory statements during a live television broadcast and a private telephone conversation.

These statements reportedly targeted the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.

According to the charge, filed on May 16, 2025, at the Federal Capital Territory High Court and marked CR/297/25, Akpoti-Uduaghan is accused of making a statement during an appearance on Politics Today on Channels TV on April 3, 2025, where she alleged that Akpabio and Bello discussed plans to assassinate her.

“It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night— to eliminate me… he then emphasised that I should be killed in Kogi,” the charge quotes her as saying.

Additionally, the government accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of making defamatory remarks in a telephone conversation on March 27, 2025.

In the conversation with a woman named Dr Sandra Duru, Akpoti-Uduaghan allegedly claimed that Akpabio was linked to organ harvesting involving the late Iniubong Umoren, purportedly for the benefit of his ailing wife.

Akpabio, Bello, and four others have been listed as key witnesses in the trial.

Idahosa also reiterated the readiness of the legal team to defend Akpoti-Uduaghan in court.

He said, “If the case is called tomorrow, we will respond accordingly with our client.

“The issue of protest is irrelevant to us — we are lawyers, and our focus is on defending charges we believe can be contested. Protests are the domain of civil societies and others in that terrain,” Idahosa said.

He further stated, “Our client is a law-abiding citizen. Why wouldn’t she be there? It’s a summons we have undertaken. Only disrespectful institutions that disregard court orders would fail to appear, and she is not in that category.

”When asked about the possibility of arraignment, Idahosa noted, “We don’t know.

We saw a notice of amended charges. We don’t know what they are trying to do.

They’ve amended the charges once and could do so again—it’s their decision.”

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NSEMA Recovers 153 Dead Body in Mokwa Flood

The director- general of NSEMA, Abdullahi Baba Arah, disclosed this yesterday while giving the daily update on the Disaster.

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The Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) has announced the discoveries of more dead bodies under a bridge bringing the death toll to 153 in the Mokwa Flood.

The director- general of NSEMA, Abdullahi Baba Arah, disclosed this yesterday while giving the daily update on the Disaster.

He said, “Two more dead bodies were recovered late yesterday (Saturday) under the bridge.

They were buried this morning (yesterday).”The director general said that with the latest development, the death toll has now been put at 153, and the affected population is now 3,018.

He said at Ndayako village, no death was recorded, but that 98 people were displaced and 58 houses were also washed away.

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