Nigeria's parliament called on the presidency, armed forces and police to address the country's mounting security crisis on Tuesday, with the lower house urging President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency.
The resolutions come as a wave of violence and lawlessness sweeps across Africa's largest economy. Security forces, including the military deployed across most of Nigeria's states, have shown little ability to stem the tide.
"The president should immediately declare a state of emergency on security so as to fast track all measures to ensure the restoration of peace in the country," said a resolution passed by the lower house.
In the northwest, gunmen have kidnapped more than 700 schoolchildren since December, as militants pillage communities in the region. read more
In the northeast, the armed forces are still struggling in a 12-year war with Boko Haram and Islamic State's West Africa branch. On Sunday, more than 30 soldiers died in an attack, soldiers and a resident said.
"The nation is on fire," said Smart Adeyemi, a senator in Buhari's ruling party. "The president must rise to the occasion and bring in people to save this country or else we will be consumed. We cannot keep quiet any longer."
The senate upper house called for "massive recruitment" for the military and police and procurement of new equipment for security forces.
Meanwhile, the senate also resolved for its leadership to meet Buhari to discuss the insecurity, and invite Nigeria's army chief and other commanders and intelligence chiefs to speak on the matter.
The military did not immediately respond to calls and messages seeking comment. A presidency spokesman declined to comment.
Earlier on Tuesday, Rivers state, in Nigeria's oil-producing heartland, said it will ban people crossing its borders at night due to insecurity.
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Nigerian lawmakers demand action on security crisis
Friday, April 23, 2021
Nigeria's Buhari condemns killing of 'tens' of villagers
Local residents said as many as 60 people could have been killed in Wednesday's rampage in about a dozen villages in the state but only nine bodies had been recovered.
Police and government officials could not immediately confirm the death toll.
Heavily-armed criminal gangs known locally as "bandits" have become a growing security challenge in northwest Nigeria, ransacking villages and carrying out mass abductions for ransom.
In a statement late Thursday, Buhari said "such wanton disregard for life will be brought to an end sooner than later."
He ordered security forces to rid the region of "frequent and horrifying bandit activities."
"The violence against poor villagers who are struggling with poverty and other severe economic challenges is not going to be tolerated by this administration," he said.
"Let's not give these criminals any opportunity to succeed by taking the war to their own camps and stop them in their tracks before they even have the time to respond under our massive fire power."
Local residents said motorcycle-riding gunmen stormed 13 villages in Magami district of Zamfara state on Wednesday, shooting residents, looting and burning homes.
- Gunmen on motorbikes -
The villages included Kangon Farimana, Ruwan Dawa, Madaba, Arzikin Da, Mairvairai, Gidan Maza, Unguwa Malam and Katohin.
"These are neighbouring villages and the bandits rode in motorcycles, shooting anyone at sight," resident Halliru Bala told AFP.
"Most of those killed were volunteers who mobilised to help fend off the attacks," he said.
"We buried nine people yesterday (Wednesday) here in Magami but we are still looking for 51 others," he said.
"We believe they were killed and their bodies are lying in the villages which have been deserted following the attacks."
Another resident, Babangida Ilu said villagers had fled the communities.
"We are still afraid to go into our villages to pick the dead because the bandits are still around nearby bushes and would attack whoever goes back," he said.
"Only nine out of the 60 people we lost in the attacks were recovered and buried. The rest are still scattered in the villages. We are afraid to go there because of the bandits."
Ilu said the gunmen looted food supplies and burnt homes during the attacks.
"The bandits went from village to village on a killing spree which made people to flee," said Altine Musa, another resident.
Zamfara has been the hardest hit by bandits in the volatile northwest despite a government offer of amnesty in exchange for renouncing violence and surrendering their weapons.
Nigerian police said on Tuesday they had killed 30 gunmen after the criminals raided some villages and slaughtered 10 people in the state.
Criminal gangs have recently targeted schools and colleges for kidnapping attacks, hoping to get ransom payments out of the authorities.
On Tuesday, some students were seized from private Greenfield University in Kaduna state while a member of staff was killed, in the fifth such attack since December.
AFP
Search Underway for Kidnapped Students from Nigeria’s Kaduna State
Nigerian officials say gunmen abducted several college students in the country’s north central state of Kaduna late Tuesday, killing at least one school official. The attack is the fifth high-profile abduction of Nigerian students since December, and it comes nearly one month after gunmen kidnapped 39 students in Kaduna.
School authorities at Greenfield University in Nigeria’s Kaduna state are conducting a headcount and investigating the attack, but say initial figures show at least 20 students are missing. A staff member was also found dead after the raid.
Local police search team has launched a rescue operation for the missing students.
The attack is the fifth in a series of mass kidnappings in the country's north since December, exacerbating an already bad security situation in the West African nation, said security expert, Ebenezer Oyetakin.
"It's worrisome and disturbing. The problem is that I think we do not have enough proactive intelligence gathering,” said Oyetakin.
It is not clear if all the missing students were kidnapped by local criminal gangs who often kidnap for ransom.
But the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, said more than 700 students have been kidnapped from schools in northern Nigeria since December.
Nigerian states like Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, Yobe and Zamfara have been the hardest hit. Last month, 39 students were taken from another college in Kaduna, and only 10 of them so far have been released.
In another attack this week in nearby Zamfara state, barely 24 hours after the school attack, local dailies reported 45 people were killed.
Nigerian authorities repeatedly have pledged to secure the country’s citizens, but the recurrent attacks have drawn criticisms by right groups demanding accountability.
"We believe that why the crimes have continued is because of lack of accountability. Impunity always leads to further commission of crimes by perpetrators," said Seun Bakare of Amnesty International.
No one has been prosecuted so far since the wave of kidnappings began last year.
Amnesty International reports more than 600 schools have been shut down in at least six states in Nigeria’s north where education has been shaky.
Related stories: Video - 279 kidnapped Zamfara schoolgirls released
In Nigeria, an agonising wait for parents of 300 abducted girls
Video - More than 300 schoolgirls abducted in Northwest Nigeria
Video - Why are school children increasingly being kidnapped in Nigeria?
Video - Freed schoolboys arrive in Nigeria’s Katsina week after abduction
American rescued in daring SEAL Team 6 raid in Nigeria
Nigeria pays $11 million as ransom to kidnappers in four years
Two police officers arrested for the kidnapping of Okonjo-Iweala's Mother
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
YouTube shuts down prominent Nigerian megachurch preacher's channel for 'gay curing' claims
A popular Nigerian televangelist has urged his followers to "pray for YouTube" for shutting down his account after he posted videos on his channel claiming to 'cure' gay members of his congregation of their sexuality.
"I got to know what happened to YouTube when I saw the viewers complaining... I want you to help me pray for YouTube... Don't see them the other way around; see them as friends. We need to be strong," T.B. Joshua said in a sermon posted on the ministry's Facebook page at the weekend.
The YouTube channel of The Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) -- run by Joshua -- was deactivated last week and can no longer be viewed by its nearly two million subscribers.
OpenDemocracy, a media rights group based in the UK, told CNN that it sent a message to YouTube on April 8 asking if the conversion therapy videos did not violate its policies.
"We noticed at least seven videos. In one video, T.B. Joshua slapped a woman and her partner whom he called her 'second' (partner) at least 16 times," said Lydia Namubiru, OpenDemocracy's Africa Editor.
"He said he was casting the 'spirit of woman' out of her," Namubiru said as she narrated the content of the footage flagged to YouTube and Facebook by her organization. The woman later told Joshua that she no longer felt affection for her partner because of his intervention, Namubiru said.
"In yet another, a young person... is slapped several times and his dreadlocks are shaven off before he testifies that he is no longer attracted to men," Namubiru added.
YouTube has not issued a public statement on the matter. CNN attempted to contact YouTube for comment but was not successful.
CNN saw an email sent to OpenDemocracy on April 13 by a YouTube spokesperson who stated: "YouTube's Community Guidelines prohibits hate speech and we remove flagged videos and comments that violate these policies. In this case we have terminated the channel... We reviewed the videos flagged to us and took appropriate action, which resulted in the termination of the channel."
'Prosperity gospel'
Emmanuel TV, the broadcast arm of the church, airs in Africa on DSTV -- a satellite service owned by South African firm MultiChoice.
SCOAN plays host to dozens of international guests, and local celebrities, who visit the worship center for prayers.
In 2011, Joshua was listed by Forbes as the third-richest pastor in Nigeria with an estimated net worth of between $10 - $15 million.
In a statement posted on Facebook last week, T.B. Joshua Ministries said it would appeal the decision by YouTube to suspend its channel.
"Emmanuel TV's mission is to share the love of God with everyone -- irrespective of race or religion -- and we strongly oppose all forms of hate speech! We have had a long and fruitful relationship with YouTube and believe this decision was made in a haste... we are making every effort to appeal this decision and see the channel restored," the statement said.
The Lagos-based megachurch also called on millions of its followers to protest on social media -- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube -- against YouTube's action.
Reacting to Joshua's doctrinal methods, a spokesman for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), an umbrella body of Christian groups in the country, told CNN that the association "does not interfere in how churches are run or how individuals operate their worship centers."
The YouTube sanction poses a big blow to Joshua, whose ministrations and humanitarian outreaches in different parts of the world are showcased on the popular video platform.
Joshua rose to prominence in the late 1990s following the boom of "prosperity gospel" -- a Pentecostal doctrine that hinges good health and financial blessing on the depth of faith an individual is able to demonstrate.
He, however, suffered national infamy in 2014, after a building on SCOAN's premises collapsed, killing more than 100 people -- most of whom were foreigners from South Africa, Chinese state media, CCTV reported.
Related stories: Evangelist T.B. Joshua to be sued for building collapse that left 115 dead in Lagos, Nigeria
26 people rescued in human trafficking bust in south Nigeria
At least 26 persons including 19 children have been rescued from trafficking during a law enforcement operation in Nigeria’s southern state of Edo, authorities said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Kontongs Bello, a police spokesperson in Edo, said the victims comprise 19 children, one teenager and six women who were trafficked from the southeast states of Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, Anambra and Akwa Ibom.
He said they were heading toward Evbuotubu in Ekenwan road axis of Benin city before rescue came their way.
According to the police spokesman, the women were lured from their various home states by a woman named “Jennifer”, noting that the suspect is now on the run.
“They were lured in a guise that Edo state government is giving financial support to single mothers with newborn babies especially twins,” he said.
“The women said they were forced to go for street begging for their mistress Jennifer. They further stated that only peanut is given to them to take care of their children,” he said.
By David Ochieng Mbewa
Related story: New Nollywood film shines a light on human trafficking in Nigeria