Jihadists kill 11 villagers in northeast Nigeria

Jihadists aligned to the Islamic State have killed 11 villagers in two separate attacks in Nigeria’s northeast Borno state, militia leaders said Wednesday.

Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) in several pickup trucks opened fire on Wasaram, 90 kilometres (55 miles) from regional capital Maiduguri on Tuesday, killing eight villagers and injuring 20, they said.

Three villagers were also killed in a separate attack in Auno earlier that day.

“We recovered 11 bodies from the two attacks which occurred yesterday in Kaga district,” militia leader Ibrahim Liman told AFP.

The insurgents had accused the villagers of alerting troops about their movement on their way to rob traders in the nearby town of Ngamdu, he said.

Soldiers intercepted the jihadists and engaged them in a gun battle, forcing them to retreat, said militiaman Umar Ari, who gave the same death toll.

“They (ISWAP) attacked the village on their way back, accusing residents of informing soldiers about their movement to rob local traders at the weekly market”, Ari told AFP.

Earlier on Tuesday, ISWAP fighters slaughtered three farmers that they seized as they worked on their fields outside Auno village, 65 kilometres away, the militia leaders added.

ISWAP, which split from Boko Haram in 2016 and initially focused on attacking the military, has increasingly been targeting civilians, in particular abducting and killing motorists at bogus checkpoints on highways.

Meanwhile, eight people were injured late Tuesday when gunmen from a rival Boko Haram faction ambushed a civilian convoy under military escort outside the town of Banki near the border with Cameroon, security sources told AFP.

“Four of the victims were taken to a hospital in Mora on the Cameroonian side because of the severity of their injuries,” said a security source, who asked not to be identified.

The decade-old jihadist insurgency in mainly-Muslim northern Nigeria has claimed 36,000 lives and forced two million others to flee their homes.

The conflict has spilled over to Cameroon, Chad and Niger, prompting a regional military force to be formed to fight off the insurgents.

 CGTN

Unicef condemns jailing of 13 year old for 10 years Nigeria for 'blasphemy'

The UN children's agency Unicef has called on the Nigerian authorities to urgently review an Islamic court's decision to sentence a 13-year-old boy to 10 years in prison for blasphemy.
The boy was convicted in August of making uncomplimentary remarks about God during an argument with a friend in northern Kano state.
Kano is one of 12 Nigerian states practising the Sharia legal system alongside the country's secular laws.
Muslims form the majority in the north.

The 13-year-old's sentencing "negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria - and by implication, Kano state - has signed on to", said Peter Hawkins, Unicef's representative in the West African state.
On 9 September, the boy's lawyer, Kola Alapinni, said he had filed an appeal against the judgement.
"This is a violation of the African Charter of the Rights And Welfare of a Child. A violation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," he added.
He told the BBC that no date had been set for the appeal to be heard in court. 

BBC

Video - Challenging conditions hamper Nigerian medal hopefuls

Nigeria para-athletes have put the disappointment of the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics behind them and are now focused on showcasing their talent in Japan next year if everything goes according to plan. However, they are preparing for the Games under challenging conditions as CGTN's Deji Badmus reports.

Nigeria's petrol and power price rises upset business owners

Daniel Oyelesi, who runs a laundry business in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, is reeling from the double whammy of price rises for petrol and electricity imposed in recent weeks that he says will harm his two-year-old business.

Earlier this month Nigeria’s president said the increases, announced days apart in early September, were needed to bolster Africa’s biggest economy, which for years has been urged by multilateral lenders to remove costly fuel subsidies and change electricity tariffs, both of which held prices artificially low.

Before electricity price rises were implemented, Oyelesi - who works out of a cramped kiosk filled with piles of clothes, a washing machine, tumble dryer and ironing board - spent 20,000 naira ($52.63) on power each month. He said that sum was now likely to last two weeks.

“I won’t say I’m coping... it has not been easy for us,” said Oyelesi. He added that he feared losing customers if he raised his prices.

Ochuko Kosefe, a barber, also lamented price hikes that made him feel “sick”.

Sat behind a cash desk where he watches one of his two hairdressers cut the hair of a young boy, Kosefe said higher fuel costs meant he rationed the use of his diesel powered generator which, like many businesses in Nigeria, is used to make up for the patchy power supply provided by the national grid.

Nigeria’s economy contracted by 6.1% in the second quarter due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and low oil prices. Africa’s top oil exporter relies on crude sales for 90% of foreign exchange earnings.

Last month sources said a much-needed $1.5 billion World Bank loan was held up due to concerns over the implementation of reforms such as the fuel and electricity price changes.

But galloping inflation, which the central bank expects to rise to 14.15% by the end of the year, is increasing costs for businesses and their customers.

Oyelesi, whose words float above the constant hum of a washing machine and the din from the busy Abuja street outside, believes the future is bleak.

“If the government does not do something, we might be forced to quit the business,” he said.

($1 = 380.0000 naira)

By Abraham Achirga

Reuters

Nigerian porn star arrested 'for filming' at sacred Osun Osogbo ground

 A filmmaker has been arrested for allegedly recording a pornographic movie at the Osun Osogbo sacred grove in western Nigeria, police say.
The sacred forest, home to Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility, is a UN-designated World Heritage Site.

Police said the man, Tobiloba Jolaosho, popularly known as King Tblak HOC, was arrested for allegedly recording a "sex movie" in the forest.
Neither he nor his lawyer have commented.
Osun Osogbo is on the outskirts of the city of Osogbo, the Osun state capital.

Mr Jolaosho is a popular porn movie producer with a huge following, and snippets of the video, which allegedly showed him dressed in the white robe of adherents of the Osun deity, were posted on his website and social media accounts.

'Breached public peace'
 
It is not clear when the recording was done or how he entered the forest, which can be easily accessed from many routes.
Police spokesman Opalola Yemisi told BBC Yoruba that the movie producer will appear in court following an investigation as his conduct "could have breached public peace".

A follower of the deity, Yemi Elebuibon, said Mr Jolaosho had desecrated the grove, which was a sacred land where worshippers from Nigeria and elsewhere offer prayers and sacrifices to the Osun goddess.

"The traditional worshippers in charge of the grove will decide on what punishment to mete out to him, after the police concludes its investigation," Mr Elebuibon told the BBC's Busayo James-Olufade.

Declared it a World Heritage Site in 2003, the UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, described the Osun Osogbo sacred grove, as "one of the last remnants of primary high forest in southern Nigeria" and "as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods".

The Osun goddess, according to Yoruba mythology, was one of the many wives of Sango, a powerful deity in Yoruba folklore.

Famous all over the world
 
Every year, thousands of people attend the Osun Osogbo festival, a traditional celebration that is thought to be 600 years old.

The two-week festival is considered to be the biggest annual traditional religious event of the Yoruba people and attracts thousands of worshippers and spectators from both Nigeria and the rest of the world.

Devotees believe that the sacred grove forest is one of the last remaining places that the spirits, or "Orishas" reveal themselves to bless them.

The festival is marked with daily performances of people dancing, singing, playing the drums and showing off elaborate costumes to appease the goddess Osun,.