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‘No Going Back’, October 1 Protest Organisers Insist

Orgaisers of the October 1 protest against hardship in the country have insisted they would proceed with the ‘showdown’ despite kicks by the Federal Government and warning by the Nigerian Police Force.
A former presidential candidate and activist who is one of the leaders of the planned Oct 1 protest, Omoyele Sowore, gave an update on his social media platform X on Monday, insisting on the action, and saying it would be held across the country.
“NO GOING BACK! #FearlessInOctober”, he wrote on Monday.
The nationwide protest will hold at the Eagles Square Abuja, according to the Sowore.
While giving the nature of the protest, Sowore said protests will be peaceful.
“The protests will hold across all parts of Nigeria because the scale of the devastation, hunger, insecurity, and hardship that this government has unleashed on Nigerians is national.
I will emphasise again that these will be peaceful protests, as they’ve always been.
“The last protests were peaceful, yet the government met the protesters with batons and bullets.
“We will not be deterred, though. Our only weapon is truth, and no amount of force or violence will prevent us from speaking truth to power,” he said.
The activist further said hunger pangs have spread across the country, adding that it was necessary for Nigerians to tropp out nationwide in protest.
“Between the last protest just two months ago and now, petrol prices have risen by almost N300 per litre.
The naira has further devalued, and prices have increased in the market. Bandits have taken over and killed off entire communities. Floods are devastating our cities.
“Under these circumstances, can anyone be surprised that the Nigerian people want to voice their displeasure with this government’s failure to address the issues affecting them?
“We are prepared to come out to protest. We are determined to do so peacefully. I can assure you that thousands of voices will be raised in protest on October 1.
“The pangs of hunger and groans of pain of the Nigerian people will not be drowned out by the government,” he said during an interview session shared on his handle.”
Sowore’s insistence comes after the Nigerian Police Force said they had not been notified of any protest.
“We are fully prepared. Our organisers are on the ground and will not be going into hiding.
These are revolutionary times, Nigerians will hit the streets en mass starting from 7 am on October 1,” he later said during an interview session shared on his X platform.
In Lagos, the protest organisers plan to commence their march at the Ikeja Under Bridge at 7:30 am.
Information also revealed that the NPF has started deploying its officers across the states to forestall violence.
The Niger State Police Command said it has deployed personnel and security assets.
On Sunday in Minna, the state capital, gun-wielding security operatives were stationed in some of the major places, including popular markets and road junctions.
The Niger State Police Command spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said, “The Niger State Police Command shall deploy an adequate number of personnel and operational assets for public safety and orderliness.
The state Commissioner of Police, Shawulu Danmamman, directed Area Commanders, Tactical Commanders and DPOs to ensure that police visibility was enhanced in their various areas to avert any act of breach of public peace.
“The Command had also engaged labour leaders, trades unions, youth and students leaders in the state and other critical stakeholders towards ensuring and sustaining the relative peace that is being enjoyed for economic growth and development of the state.”
The Kano State Police Command also confirmed to have deployed its personnel to strategic positions.
In Kaduna, the state police command also said it has taken proactive measures to prevent potential violence during the planned protest in the state.
The Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Bethrand Onuoha, advised organisers of the protest to reconsider their plan and give government more time to fix the nation’s economy.
Onuoha stated this on Saturday while engaging with members of the Take It Back Movement, Kogi State chapter at the command’s headquarters in Lokoja.
A statement on Sunday by the PPRO, Kogi Command, William Aya, read in part, “The CP advised the group to reconsider their planned protest and give government more time to fix the economy of our dear nation.”
Security personnel are also preparing in other regions in the country, according to findings.
The National Director of the Take It Back Movement, Juwon Sanyaolu, said preparations for the protest were in “top gear”, noting that they had no plans to go underground as they had done noting wrong, despite the repressive measures by the Tinubu-led administration.
“Preparations are in top gear nationwide and we are going to be coming out on Tuesday, October 1 as scheduled, not just to exercise our constitutional right to protest, but to restate our opposition to the neo-liberal direction of Tinubu’s government.
We have no plans of going underground, we have not committed any offense. We are well within our rights and within the ambit of the law”.
“So we are organising openly, and we are doing that despite repressive measures by the Tinubu-led government. But we are not bothered by that because we haven’t committed any offence.
If there’s anyone in the wrong, it is the Tinubu regime who have chosen to turn deaf ears to the yearnings and the demand of the Nigerian people, and the Police institution that continue to violate the constitutional right of the people through its repressive measures.
But nonetheless we are not detered, and the protest will go on as scheduled”.
Similarly, Director of Mobilization for the Take It Back Movement, Damilare Adenola, stated “I’m going nowhere. Protest is not a crime.
I will not run, having done nothing wrong.
”Publicity Secretary, Take It Back Movement in Rivers State, Andy Akpotive said the protest was aimed at bringing leaders in the country to accountability.
Akpotive stated, “We are insisting that October 1, 2024 provides us the opportunity, the window, the latitude to come out again and say we will refuse to be cowed, we will refuse to be slaves.
We refuse to be kept under in our land where we share equal rights, even with leadership.
”Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has maintained that the court directive restricting protests to two designated venues in Lagos still stands.
The state reiterated this as organisers gear up for the upcoming October 1, 2024 protest in Lagos and other states.
Advising organisers to avoid disrupting social and economic activities in the state, the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN) while responding to questions from journalists on Sunday, emphasised that the governor’s instructions to the Commissioner of Police for maintaining public safety remain in effect.
News
Yahaya Bello Vs EFCC: Court Adjourns Ruling and Continuation of Trials to June 26 , 27 and July 4 and 5

You cannot cross examine him based on the document,” Daudu SAN argued. Enitan SAN added that he had the right to draw the attention of the court to some specific paragraphs in the document.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned the hearing of the alleged money laundering case instituted against the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to June 26, 27 and July 4 and 5 for ruling on the request by the prosecution to “cross-examine” the 3rd witness and for continuation of trial.
Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the hearing after listening to addresses by the prosecution and defence counsels on the Prosecution’s move to initially cross-examine the witness, a position that was rejected by the Defendant’s Counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN.
When the matter was called for continuation of cross-examination, the Defendant’s counsel asked the witness, Nicholas Ojehomon, whether he had testified in other courts with respect to the issue of school fees paid by the Bello family to AISA, he said yes.
But the witness, an internal auditor at the American International School, Abuja, said he could not mention the exact courts.
He admitted testifying in a similar charge involving Ali Bello but added that he never said anything adversely against former Governor Yahaya Bello just as he had not said anything negative or adversely against him in the instant charge.
After Daudu SAN concluded the cross-examination of the witness, Nicholas Ojehomon, the EFCC’s lawyer, Olukayode Enitan, SAN, moved to also cross-examine the Commission’s witness on Exhibit 19.
He told the court that he was not re-examining the EFCC’s witness, but cross-examining him because the document was admitted in evidence.
“I am not re-examining him, I am cross-examining him because they brought this document,” he said.
The Defendant’s lawyer, however, drew the court’s attention to the fact that the prosecution counsel’s position was unknown to law, in line with the Evidence Act.
“If you want to cross-examine your own witness, you have to first declare him a hostile witness. You cannot cross examine him based on the document,” Daudu SAN argued. Enitan SAN added that he had the right to draw the attention of the court to some specific paragraphs in the document.
At this point, the judge asked: “Do you have any provision of the law to support this?””I will draw your lordship attention to Section 36 of the Constitution.
They sought to tender this document, we objected and the court granted their prayer. Fair hearing demands that the complainant too has the right to examine this because Section 36 of the Constitution talks of fair hearing,”
Enitan responded. “We are not saying that they cannot re-examine the witness. That is what Section 36 under the law says about fair hearing. But if it is to cross-examine him, he will have to show us the law that backs that.
“He cannot come under the guise of fair hearing to want to cross-examine the witness,” the Defendant’s lawyer maintained. The judge, at the end of the arguments, refused to allow cross-examination of the witness by the EFCC lawyer.”
Under the procedure, the witness gives evidence in chief and the defendant cross examines, then the prosecution re-examines.
“With due respect, what I will do is if you people are so skewed to continue with this, it is better to address me on this and I will take a position,” he stated.
At this point, the prosecution counsel agreed to re-examine the EFCC’s witness and the judge gave him the go-ahead.”You can re-examine him on that but not to ask questions that will show cross examination,” Justice Nwite said.
However, when the prosecution lawyer proceeded to re-examine the witness, and his questions pointed at cross-examination, as observed by Daudu SAN, the judge insisted that the parties had to address him on the specific issue.
The Defendant’s Counsel, in his address, maintained that the position was unknown to law.
“My lord, the procedure that is being sought by the prosecution by refering the witness to the document tender in Exhibit 19 and by asking him to read paragraph 1, without drawing his attention to the issue on how the document affected his evidence in chief, the question asked in cross-examination, and the ambiguity, which needs clarification, amounts to a strange and unknown procedure not covered by the Evidence Act,” he stated.
Enitan SAN, disagreed, saying that in the case of Amobi Amobi referred to by the defendant’s counsel, the Supreme Court held that the learned trial judge ought to have allowed a re-examination of Exhibit E.
He said when the defendant sought to introduce the document, the prosecution team “submitted that this document was not made by the witness and as such, he should not be allowed to speak to it under cross examination or allowed to be confronted with it.”
“Having brought it in now, during the case of the prosecution, particularly during the cross examination of PW-3, your lordship should not allow them to shut us out as that would amount to the court allowing them to blow hot and cold,” Pinheiro SAN said.
Justice Nwite thereafter adjourned to June 26, 27 and July 4 and 5 for ruling and continuation of trial.
The 3rd prosecution witness had, at the last hearing on Thursday, said there was no wired transfer of fees from the Kogi State Government or any of the local Governments in the state to the account of the American International School, Abuja.
He also read out a part of a previous Federal Capital Territory High Court judgment that said there was no court order for AISA to return fees to EFCC or any judgment declaring the money as proceeds of money laundering.
News
Bill Gates to give away 99% of his wealth
“I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned,” Gates, 69, wrote in a statement.

The Gates Foundation plans to give away $313 billion over the next 20 years before shutting down entirely in 2045.
The move, according to Bloomberg, marks a new deadline for one of history’s largest and most influential charities.
That target would represent a doubling in spending for the non-profit foundation which has disbursed more than $100 billion since it was co-founded by Microsoft Founder Bill Gates and Melinda Gates in 2000.
Originally, the foundation was set to close 20 years after Gate’s death.
“I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned,” Gates, 69, wrote in a statement.
“I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world,” he added.
Credit: Bloomberg
News
Peter Obi’s Comparison of Nigeria’s Educational System With Bangladesh, Turkiye
Bangladesh, which once lagged behind Nigeria in virtually every measurable development index, now surpasses us in all key areas of development and in the Human Development Index (HDI).

Peter Obi wrote on his X( Twitter) : “I just came across the official results from JAMB showing the recent exam figures.
In the data shared by JAMB, a total of 1,955,069 candidates sat for the exam.
Shockingly, out of this number, only about 420,000 candidates scored above 200, while over 1.5 million scored below 200.
This means that over 78% of the total candidates failed to meet the 200-mark threshold — a reflection of the deep-rooted challenges in our educational system.
The latest JAMB results once again highlight the consequences of decades of underinvestment in education, a sector that should be central to our national development strategy.
Currently, Nigeria’s total university enrollment stands at approximately 2 million students.
By comparison, the National University of Bangladesh — a single university — has over 3.4 million students enrolled, despite the country having only about 75% of Nigeria’s population.
One university in Bangladesh surpasses the entire university enrollment in Nigeria.
Bangladesh, which once lagged behind Nigeria in virtually every measurable development index, now surpasses us in all key areas of development and in the Human Development Index (HDI).
Similarly, Turkey (now Turkiye), with a population of about 87.7 million people, has over 7 million university students — more than three times Nigeria’s total university enrollment.
I have consistently said it: education is not just a social service; it is a strategic investment.
It is the most critical driver of national development and the most powerful tool for lifting people out of poverty.
We must now invest aggressively in education — at all levels — if we are serious about building a prosperous, secure, and equitable Nigeria.”
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