Nigerian-Canadians Condemn Crackdown on Protestors

Members of the Nigerian community in Canada are calling on Ottawa to condemn their home country’s decision to freeze 20 bank accounts linked to recent protests against police brutality.

The bank accounts, linked to prominent participants of the #EndSARS protesters have been restricted following a federal court ruling in Abuja and an investigation by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Amnesty International said it has been monitoring developments across Nigeria since the #EndSars protest began last month.

Nigerians have been taking to the streets, peacefully demanding an end to police brutality, extrajudicial executions and extortion by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit of the Nigerian police tasked with fighting violent crimes, the human rights group said.

According to Amnesty International, at least 56 people have died across the country since protests began. In multiple cases, the security forces have used excessive force in an attempt to control or stop the protests.

The government says 51 civilians and 22 policemen died as the initially peaceful protests against the excesses of the police’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, degenerated into days of rioting and looting across most of the country of more than 200 million people.

The Coalition of Nigerians in Canada (CONIC) said the decision to freeze the bank accounts is “obnoxious and a confirmation that it (Nigerian government) had resorted to intimidation and harassment of real and imaginary enemies.”

In a statement carried by Nigerian news portals, CONIC said Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had been turned into an agent of intimidation and could now “frivolously” secure an order to freeze the accounts of the government’s perceived enemies and those they see as the brains behind the #EndSARS movement.

“As Nigerians living in Canada, we do not believe that it is against the law for Nigerian citizens to protest any perceived injustice against police brutality, corruption, and government’s inaction, insensitivity, and fiscal irresponsibility of governments at all levels,” the statement said.

“We, the Coalition of Nigerians in Canada (CONIC) join the other groups of Nigerians in the Diaspora to condemn the government’s action in freezing the bank accounts of free Nigerian citizens while the bank accounts of rogues and bandits in government are left untouched, and are free to enjoy their loots.”

“CONIC will be calling on our host government to intervene and impose economic and diplomatic sanctions if need be. In this age and advancement of democracy all over the world, Nigeria cannot reverse into militocracy by unleashing terror on its people, as is currently apparent,” read the statement, which was signed by CONIC coordinators, Yemi Adegbite, Kemi Amusan and Femi Boyede.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has also lent its voice to condemn the attacks on the protestors in Nigeria.

“We condemn this violence. The protesters are demanding an end to police brutality; accountability for extrajudicial killings, rape, torture and extortion by police officers; and policing reforms. These demands must be heard and acted upon,” CUPE, Canada’s largest union with over 700,00 members, said in a statement.

“We further join the international community in calling for an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation into all cases of human rights violations by the police, and for access to justice and effective remedies for the victims and their families.”

Meanwhile, the Canadian High Commission in Nigeria, in a notice posted on Twitter, said it has been receiving “great interest” in Canadian immigration programs, in the wake of the unrest.

It clarified that Canadian Embassies, High Commissions, Consulates, Consulates General or Honorary Consulates do not accept refugee applications directly from people.

The High Commission also warned Nigerians not to be taken in by people who claim they can fast track immigration and refugee applications to Canada.

Nigeria is the fourth-leading source country of new arrivals to Canada, behind India, China, and the Philippines. A total of 12,600 Nigerians gained permanent residence in 2019, a tripling of Nigerian immigration to Canada since 2015.

Nigeria is also a hotbed for corruption and visa scams according to reports posted by the Research Directorate of Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.

By Fabian Dawson

The Star

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Nigeria is also losing control of its troubled northwest region

This month BBC’s Hausa language service which covers northern Nigeria reported a remarkable story of 12 Nigerian police officers being kidnapped along the Katsina-Zamfara expressway in the country’s northwest region. It was the latest in a growing list of attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria’s northwest that have often been underreported in Nigeria’s national media and almost hardly covered by the international media.

For the past decade and more, Nigeria has been battling Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram in an insurgency that has cost about 30,000 lives and displaced 2.3 million people in and around the northeast region of the country. The group, which has carried out attacks in the country’s capital Abuja as well as in neighboring countries Chad, Cameroon, and Niger, remains very active in the northeast even after splintering into the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and the Jamaa’atul Ahlis Sunnah (JAS), with both carrying out attacks on civilians, aid workers, and the military.

However, for the past five years, the northwestern part of Nigeria has also become gradually engulfed by violence, with much less media coverage because these attacks have been carried out groups that have been described locally as “bandits”. These are not islamist terrorist groups with international affiliations which would more easily garner global media attentition.

Bandit is used here as a catch-all term to describe numerous groups that have carried out vicious attacks on local communities, killing scores of people, and have also been kidnapping as many as they can for ransoms. Zamfara, Katsina, and Kaduna states are the epicenters of the growing crisis.

The genesis of the lawlessness is not as clear-cut as the Boko Haram insurgency as it is a combination of various factors.

The northwest region makes up just over a quarter of Nigeria’s landmass and is composed of seven states, including some of Nigeria’s poorest. Zamfara and Sokoto have high poverty rates like in the northeast. But unlike the northeast, the northwest region is more homogenous in terms of ethnicity and religion: with the exception of the southern part of Kaduna State and parts of Kebbi State, it is mostly peopled by the Hausa and Fulani ethnic groups, and mostly Muslim.

Most of the actors are Fulani, the ethnic group that spreads across West Africa and is known for being nomadic pastoralists, while the communities being attacked are mostly Hausa farming communities. The current violent dynamic started soon after vigilante groups formed from the Hausa communities for security purposes carried out extrajudicial action against Fulani pastoralists as tensions mounted from increasing competition for land and water resources between the pastoralists and the farmers as the effects of climate change exacerbate.

This has all coincided with an increase in cattle rustling in the regionby armed gangs, again mostly Fulani, using increasingly sophisticated weapons and staging attacks from nearby forests. It is these gangs that have now been attacking communities and killing indiscriminately in a bid to exact revenge. There is also a nexus between the banditry and illegal gold mining in Zamfara state, with the miners accused of being collaborators but have also fallen victimsto the armed gangs.

“The population in the state, which is mainly made up of herders and farmers, have been affected heavily as they have been unable to carry out their economic activities,” says Yusuf Anka, a political commentator based in Gusau, Zamfara’s state capital. “There is arbitrary taxation on the communities by the bandits before they can plant and harvest crops. Everyone in Zamfara has suffered a personal loss to this banditry.”

Given there is very little or even no state presence in most parts of the northwest region beyond its state capitals and major towns, it has become very easy for non-state actors to run rampant in the deep rural areas. It is made worse by the fact the nearby national border in the region is very porous and for many years has become a conduit for smuggling illicit drugs, weapons, and even humans. Together with a high rate of unemployment and poverty, these factors have served to ignite and sustain the seemingly unending cycle of violence.

“It has been terrible in Zandam in the Jibia local government area of Katsina state, where we’ve experienced about five attacks in the last year,” says Gidado Suleiman Farfaru, a local civil society activist in Katsina. “All the resources of the community have been wiped out.” He said three people were killed in these attacks; and another nine people have been reported as kidnapped.

An uncertain calm has returned to the farms and surrounding areas after the government sanctioned the deployment of 60 mobile policemen in the village for the last two months, says Farfaru. The BBC story of the police kidnapping highlights the risk for even uniformed security officials.

Disrupted

But the disruption is not limited to rural areas anymore as there have been numerous kidnappings on major highways in the region and even attacks in cities: for example, traveling on the 190-kilometer expressway linking Nigeria’s capital Abuja and Kaduna is fraught with risk due to the high rate of attacks on travelers. This has made the train link the safer choice for traveling and even an air shuttle servicebeing mooted.

“The deteriorating state of security in the region has also provided opportunities for jihadist groups to take advantage,” says Murtala Abdullahi, a climate, conflict, and security reporter with Humangle News. “There have been reports of the Boko Haram factions trying to extend their reach from the Lake Chad region while groups active in neighboring countries such as Mali, Niger Republic, and Burkina Faso are getting increasingly active close to the region.”

The insecurity is also impacting Nigeria’s agricultural production and food security with more farmers abandoning their farms due to fears of being attacked.

“The insecurity in the northwest is causing significant problems for farmers. In many areas, they now pay bandits to have access to their farms in order to harvest—with fees often ranging in the hundreds of thousands of naira,” says Ikemesit Effiong, the head of research at SBM Intelligence, a geopolitical consultancy based in Lagos. “Even with this quasi-taxation, security is not always guaranteed.”


Effiong is worried about a fast deteriorating situation. “Food insecurity is now a national emergency and the federal and state governments in the northwest need to urgently and closely cooperate to re-establish an adequate security presence in farming areas, so normal activities can resume.”

To be clear, in its efforts to restore security to the region, the Nigerian government has launched numerous military operations over the past four years but with an overstretched military that is deployed in multiple concurrent operations across the whole country, the impact of these operations has been very limited.

“Military approach is important but it needs to be done in a way that is not excessive and targets only the right persons,” says Abdullahi. “Other approaches need to be utilized as well, addressing surrounding issues such as justice, rural development, and state presence, and improving livelihood.”


Other approaches such as a peace deal brokered with the bandits by state governors in the region only held together for a few months before it collapsed, leading to at least one state officially pulling out of the deal. This is likely due to the fragmented nature of the actors in the conflict with so many groups involved such that it is hard to have an agreement binding on all of them.

By Mark Amaza

Quartz Africa

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Nigerian ruling party’s state chairman kidnapped by gunmen

Nigerian police confirmed on Sunday that the chairman of the ruling All Progressive Congress(APC) in central state of Nasarawa has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

Bola Longe, the commissioner of police in the state, told reporters in Lafia, the state capital that state chairman of APC, Philip Shekwo, was abducted from his residence in the Bukan-Sidi area in the state around 11 p.m. on Saturday.

Longe said the police had been deployed to comb the various forests and flash-points in the state to ensure the rescue of Shekwo.

A family member of the APC’s state chairman told media on Sunday the gunmen had not yet contacted the victim’s relatives for ransom.

Abduction is frequently reported in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Victims seized by gunmen in the country were usually released unharmed after paying a ransom.

 CGTN

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Qatar Airways launches new route to Abuja, Nigeria

Qatar Airways will operate three weekly flights to Abuja, Nigeria via Lagos from November 27th.

The city thus becomes the sixth new destination announced by the national carrier of Qatar since the start of the pandemic.

The Abuja service will be operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner featuring 22 seats in business and 232 seats in economy class.

Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to be launching flights to the capital of Nigeria.

“With the strong Nigerian diaspora in Europe, United States and the UK, we are thrilled to now be flying to Abuja in addition to our existing Lagos flights which started back in 2007.

“We look forward to working closely with our partners in Nigeria to steadily grow this route and support the recovery of tourism and trade in the region.”

By mid-December, Qatar Airways will operate over 65 weekly flights to 20 destinations in Africa, including Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Casablanca, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Durban, Entebbe, Johannesburg, Kigali, Kilimanjaro, Lagos, Luanda, Maputo, Mogadishu, Nairobi, Seychelles, Tunis, and Zanzibar.

Also today, Qatar Airways has unveiled a specially-branded Boeing 777 aircraft painted in a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 livery, to mark two years to go until the tournament kicks off on November 21st.

The bespoke aircraft, which features distinctive FIFA World Cup, branding was hand-painted to commemorate the airline’s partnership with FIFA.

More aircraft in the Qatar Airways fleet will feature the livery and will visit several destinations in the network.

The Boeing 777-300ER will enter service on tomorrow operating flights QR095 and QR096 between Doha and Zurich.

Al Baker said: “We are tremendously excited to celebrate our partnership with FIFA and Qatar’s status as host of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 by introducing this unique aircraft to our fleet.

“As official partner and official airline of FIFA, we can feel the excitement building with two years to go until we will welcome the world to our beautiful country.”

Breaking Travel News

Nigeria threatens CNN with sanctions but provides no evidence Lekki toll gate investigation is inaccurate

A senior Nigerian minister lashed out against CNN Thursday, saying the network should be sanctioned over its investigation, which uncovered evidence that the Nigerian army and police opened fire on unarmed protestors on October 20.

CNN's investigation focused on a demonstration against police brutality, led by the largely peaceful "#EndSARS" movement.

Minister for Information and Culture Lai Mohammed Thursday dismissed the CNN investigation as "fake news" and "misinformation," repeatedly denying the military used live rounds against protesters.

"Like everyone else, I watched the CNN report. I must tell you that it reinforces the disinformation that is going around, and it is blatantly irresponsible and a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organization," he told reporters at a press conference in Abuja, in the most significant federal government response so far to the October 20 violence.

"This is very serious and CNN should be sanctioned for that," he said.

CNN stands by its investigation, a company spokesperson said.

"Our reporting was carefully and meticulously researched, and we stand by it," the spokesperson said via email.

The report was based on testimony from dozens of witnesses, and photos and video obtained and geolocated by CNN. It painted a picture of how members of the Nigerian army and the police shot at the crowd, killing at least one person and wounding dozens more.

CNN verified photos and videos acquired from multiple eyewitnesses and protesters using timestamps and other data from the video files. Video footage shows soldiers who appear to be shooting in the direction of protesters. And accounts from eyewitnesses established that after the army withdrew, a second round of shooting happened later in the evening.

Prior to publishing the report, CNN tried multiple times to elicit comment from the Nigerian army and police. A Lagos State police spokesman declined to comment because of an ongoing investigation. While a statement from the Lagos State government said that there would be no comment while a judicial tribunal was underway.

CNN also included comments from army representative Brigadier Ahmed Taiwo, testifying before the tribunal. He denied that soldiers would shoot at Nigerian citizens.

The investigation was broadcast and published on Wednesday and cast doubt on Nigerian authorities' shifting and changing statements over what happened at the protest at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos.
Addressing reporters, Mohammed insisted that "the military did not shoot at the protesters at the toll gate" but fired blank ammunitions into the air, blaming looters for the violence which broke out on the night of October 20.

"Six soldiers and 37 policemen were killed all over the country during the crisis," Mohammed said.
"CNN relied heavily on unreliable and possibly doctored videos as well as information sources from questionable sources to reach these conclusions," he continued.

He did not provide any evidence the videos were doctored.

The CNN report included evidence that bullet casings from the scene matched those used by the Nigerian army when shooting live rounds, according to current and former Nigerian military officials.
Two ballistics experts also confirmed with CNN that the shape of the bullet casings indicate they used live rounds, which contradicts the army's claim they fired blanks.

While the Minister for Information and Culture asserted that "not a single family" has reported the death of relatives during the protest on October 20, the Chief Coroner of Lagos State has since issued a public call for all those who have "lost loved ones between 19 -- 27 October 2020" to come forward and provide evidence which could assist in the "identification exercise." 

During his press briefing on Thursday, the Minister denied reports of fatalities at the protest.
"As I said earlier, what started as a peaceful protest against police brutality quickly degenerated into incredible violence despite an immediate response to the demands by the government," he said.

"While we await the Judicial Panel in Lagos to unravel what transpired at the Lekki toll gate, what we can say, based on testimonies available in the public space, is that the world may have just witnessed, for the very first time ever, a massacre without bodies," he added.

According to Mohammed, the National Economic Council (NEC) directed the "immediate establishment" of a state-based judicial panel of inquiry on October 15 -- before the Lekki toll gate incident, but after protests against violence had begun -- to investigate complaints of police brutality and extrajudicial killings.

Eyewitnesses have since told CNN that the government's comments are "lies," making them feel as though they had "hallucinated the whole event."

"Haven't they hurt us enough? I still close my eyes and see the blood and hear the screams," another eyewitness said.

During the press conference, Mohammed said the federal government continues to be "very satisfied" with the role played by security agencies -- especially the military and police -- through the protests.

By Ajeck Mangut, Angela Dewan and Nada Bashir

CNN

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