PHOTONEWS : Nigerian Journalist, Agba Jalingo, Others Arrested Over

Police teargassed RevolutionNow protesters who stormed Ikeja area of Lagos state

Police teargassed RevolutionNow protesters who stormed Ikeja area of Lagos state on Wednesday, 5 August, in a commemoration of their days of rage campaign from 2019.
The protesters were forced to take refuge inside the Computer Village before regrouping and resisting the fierce police officers.
As soon as the police officers noticed that the protesters were unyielding, they resorted to handpicking the protesters and pushing them into their waiting trucks. PurpleWorld is on ground to capture the moments.

Photonews: Police disrupt RevolutionNow protest In Lagos

More details soon.

Buhari Has Sold Misgovernance, We Have To Pay With Revolution __Written By Seyi Oyetunbi

The giant of Africa needs a political resuscitation for her to live again. If a government fails to be responsible, it then becomes a a matter of necessity for the people to organize and revolt. The nature of democracy is people-centred, that’s why it is described by a one-time US president, Abraham Lincoln (1809-​1865) to be “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” As it is that what we have in Nigeria’s democracy is government of the old, by the callous and for the rich, the country is due for a revolution; to put an end to the misrule of many decades.

The powerful few at the helms of affairs have long enjoyed the docility of the hoi polloi: children of nobody go through hassles to have a University education, graduate to be either underemployed or unemployed; the few powerful earn six figures salary yet tell the poor that a living wage of hundred thousand naira will cause inflation; no life supporting amenity is accessible to the poor; mass killing by bandits is now what we ear in news every day, corruption now sits on the constituted throne and illegality is now the way to get a good life. If there’s no revolution, there can’t be any sustainable change. Revolution is the elixir.

Buhari met the country sick, he came and injected it with lethal substance when we all had hope the promised change would be positive. The revolution is now and any effort to halt it will be met with adequate resistance. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. You can’t beat a child and ask him not to cry!

Buhari’s government has failed in its totality. And his efforts to abort the planned mass action is yet another proof that, expecting Buhari to be effective is like expecting to be served pork in the holy city of Mecca. Instead of running after shadow of RevolutionNow, why has he not tightened his belt to address issues raised by the campaigners of RevolutionNow?

The orange beret frightens Buhari than guns and other arsenal of Bokoharam as he is selfish, callous, reckless and myopic. Just a gun shot in the Villa, security officers got fired in 48hours, but the killing in North East and the increasing bandits attack in Southern Kaduna are not enough for him to send the incompetent Army chiefs packing.

The only thing that can stop the revolution is nothing. Buhari’s style of leadership and his sheer underperformance have birthed the much needed revolution that will hit the country by tomorrow. The Federal High Court in Abuja has said the protest is constitutional. Thus, police officers expected to be deployed should know they’re oppressed too, and should not be in a loggerhead with pained, subjugated, battered, frustrated citizens expressing their feelings. Any altercation between the oppressed and the oppressed defeats logic. The protest is planned to be peaceful and organized.

Seyi Oyetunbi 

TRAGIC: Hundreds Wounded As Explosion Rocks Beirut

Hundreds of people have been wounded in a huge blast that ripped through Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, according to the country’s health minister.
The massive explosion on Tuesday at Beirut’s port released a shockwave which caused widespread damage to buildings, shattering windows in different parts of the city.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear.
Hamad Hassan, Lebanon’s health minister, said hundreds were wounded in the explosion.
Video of the incident taken by Al Jazeera shows a large column of smoke billowing from above an area of the port that houses large warehouses, before a large orange blast is seen and a massive dome-shaped blast wave shoots into the air.
The blast wave from the explosion caused extensive damage to buildings within a large radius of the blast site.
“I was kilometres away; the glass broke everywhere around me,” said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut.
“The explosion was felt across the city,” she added. “There is chaos in the streets.”

Credit: InfoEast

Updated: The Sowore Revolution __Written By Dele Farotimi

A couple of weeks ago, I started seeing the ubiquitous photographs of Sowore in what appeared to be Malema-styled garbs, complete with orange-colored beret, and these were coupled with very sleek banners advertising a revolution for the 5th of August. I saw the banners on the walls of my younger friends, and a few not-so-young ones. But I wasn’t even sure that I bothered to reach out to comrades from seasons past. So inconsequential did I believe it, that I did not even discuss it with my ideological brothers. I believe Sowore a joke, albeit a painful joke.

Early last week, perhaps because the advertised date of the Sowore revolution was drawing near, I became burdened with questions from my friends, mostly the younger ones: what was my opinion they demanded to know. Where did I stand? I privately offered my opinion and I was unequivocal, Sowore is a distraction, and a joke. I expected that he’d get the anticipated traffic to his platforms, use the entire thing as clickbait for Sahara Reporters, raise his profile, burnish his civil rights credentials, and launder the image that has been stained by the allegations of mismanagement of campaign finances.
When the noise online became difficult to ignore, and not wanting to leave anyone in doubt as to where I stand, I posted a couple of blurbs, one of which said “When I hear ‘gbegbegbe’I want to know what you are gbeing, before I will gbe anything with you”. I then proceeded to demand of a highly cerebral younger friend of mine, an ardent believer and promoter of Sowore, exactly what they were “gbeing”?

The collective idiocy of the Nigerian state, and its security system, which has led them to arrest the idiot that presumed to advertise a revolution, is what has now made it imperative that one must become involved in the Sowore revolution, but we shall not be doing so on the idiotic terms of the Nigerian state, or the myopic and self-serving basis of Sowore’s call. We shall not die in their wars, but we shall fight in the war of our own choice.
Nigeria is at a crossroads. It is a crucial time in the history of Nigeria, and its future direction and trajectories are being determined. There exists reasonable basis for all who identify as Nigerians to be very concerned and anxious about the path forward for Nigeria, and it will be suicidal to leave the business of doing these in the hands of our rulers. Regardless of their protestations and posturing, there are no material differences between our rulers, and if you disagree, I ask only one question of you: who is on saint Buhari’s ministerial list, that could not possibly have been on Atiku’s list, if Atiku had won?
The problem with the Sowore revolution is the absence of a carefully articulated purpose, one into which every segment of the Nigerian society might invest their hope and their passion, one that resonates with the Izon nation, even as it excites the Fulani, a vision into which the Igbo may invest their love, and for which the Yoruba will gladly die.

I love the idea of Nigeria. It is a beautiful and lofty idea. But Nigeria remains an idea. It has never been allowed to become, and the idea has been repeatedly aborted each time it is about to be birthed. In the place of the Nigerian nation that we could be, a most unjust, evil, and wicked state has reigned, and the evil of the system has divided Nigerians along several lines in order to preserve and perpetuate itself in power. This has assured that Nigerians have been left devoid of common purpose, and unable to confront their common enemies.
What manner of revolution is Sowore then seeking, without any work being done to identify the common mobilizing interests of the people that are critical to the success of any revolution? When were the people mobilized? By who? What is the game plan? What is the leadership structure of this revolutionary movement? What are the objectives? When the known leadership of the revolution is arrested or killed, what’s next? Where are the literatures of this revolution? What is the content of the revolution?

When Sowore entered the 2019 presidential race, he doomed the candidacies of Fela Durotoye, and he was particularly damaging to the campaign of Moghalu. He literally sucked the oxygen from their campaigns, and he did so in the knowledge that he was not going to make any dents in the established political order. Moghalu was particularly damaged by Sowore because set against Moghalu’s considered and well-reasoned arguments, Sowore’s rabble-rousing, students-union activist-style, caught the imagination of the very people that should have energized and carried Moghalu’s campaign, and he was left unable to connect with the anger that Sowore stoked.

I am a very deliberate person. I interpret the actions and inactions of other actors in my orbit through this prism as well, and I make my judgment calls assuming that the other person has acted or decided not to act, consciously and deliberately. This is the standpoint from where I have evaluated Mr. Sowore and his revolution.
Sowore is not stupid. He knows that he is not going to start any Nigerian revolution on the internet, and he must have been aware that the Nigerian state, with which he is well acquainted, would arrest him for the deliberate steps he took to provoke the system. Sowore baited the system, and the idiots have responded in the only way they know how and they have now arrested the idiot that they should have ignored. Sowore is too intelligent not to know that the protest for his release will be muted and, where pronounced, will be violently suppressed by the state. Why do it when he knows or ought to have known?
Sowore is a businessman, and in the new world we live in, Sowore is a brand. The traffic on Sahara Reporters have hit the roof since the news of Sowore’s arrest, and if in doubt, follow the herds that have flocked there in recent days and compare the numbers following the news of Sowore’s arrest, to any other news item on the platform. The higher the number of clicks to a news platform or blog, the higher the advert revenue earned by the platform. Sahara Reporters was equally a beneficiary of Sowore’s presidential run.

The man counted on being arrested by a reactionary system, and he has also taken it for granted that between the western and Nigerian press, the army of idealistic young people that he has energized, and old warhorses such as this writer, will leave the government no choice but to release him. He is right, if the likes of my humble self were ever factored into his quixotic and utterly selfish plan.
I was diametrically opposed to the gentleman that succeeded me in office as the president of LASUSU, and I co-founded the LSRM in my time in LASU to specifically counter what I believed to be the excesses of the SUG under him. The battles were brutal, personal, and for me, quite draining. It ended the day he was arrested by the Nigerian state, and I was totally committed to his emancipation and restoration. Sowore’s case will not be any different.
Sowore was arrested for crimes that are yet unknown. The Nigerian state is expected to arraign him before the court as prescribed by our laws, and it is within its rights to do so, and Sowore is entitled to a legal defense, as allowed in law. If and when the state presumes to abrogate these rights, I shall be roused to join the Sowore revolution, and comrade Sowore might yet get his wish, and become the catalyst for the inevitable revolution. He will however require the Nigerian state to be as idiotic as ever, and to then become the recruiting agents for his unarticulated, and badly planned revolution.
So, for the friends who have asked where I stand, I hope that I have cleared myself enough, and that I have answered your questions. To the gentleman on Oluyinka’s wall, who I promised a reasoned response, I hope that I have made myself clear? I am not unaware of the limitations of my own humanity, and I am not conceited enough to imagine myself incapable of being wrong, and my entire deductions and conclusions being rendered invalid by my own biases. But these are my sincere and honest opinions, and I am happy to be proven wrong by the orange revolutionary.
DF

Nigeria University Commission Begins Assessment Of Varsities

National Universities Commission (NUC) has began the collection of data to assess the readiness of all universities for a possible resumption date for academic activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Executive secretary of the Commission, Abubakar Adamu Rasheed disclosed this Tuesday in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the ongoing contributions of Nigerian universities to national response to COVID-19.
Represented by deputy executive secretary, Academics, Dr Suleiman Ramon Yusuf, the NUC boss stated that efforts are also ongoing in finding solution to Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike and reopening of universities.
He noted that the Commission is already working with universities in terms of what kind of preparation should be put in place before reopening, adding that once that is done universities not under ASUU watch can go back to classes.
He said; “We have a template to vice Chancellors of all universities requesting them to suggest to us what kind of protocols and strategies are they putting in place in the various institutions. We are collecting some of the responses which have already started coming in and at the end of the day the picture should emerge about the extent to which our universities are prepared to reopen for academic activities.”
Speaking on the various contributions being made by Nigerian universities, Rasheed said over thirty two Universities in the country have so far involved in researches that are aimed at mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
He stated that a compendium put together by the Commission showed Nigerian universities are making contribution, stressing that University of Jos which is leading in herbal and natural product development could do more if federal government release more funds to such institutions for research purposes.
According to him, “As in many other parts of the world, the pandemic has challenged our knowledge system, which has proved inadequate and insufficiently robust enough to respond to the challenges. Only few institutions have been able to utilize open and distance learning system to keep students engaged while the pandemic lasted and only few laboratories continued with research and development activities.
“Nonetheless, the few who engaged in research and innovation work have demonstrated the need for a well-funded and robustly organized national research and innovation system to catalyse the national response.
“The performance of the African Centers of Excellence, particularly the Center for the Genomics of Infectious Diseases at the Redeemer’s University, Ede in Sequencing SARS-CoV-2 virus, the collaborative development of vaccines with the University of Cambridge and as a pioneer national testing and screening centre and the other ACES in ABU, BUK, UNILAG, UNIBEN, UNIPORT and UNIJOS that also served as national testing and screening centres have proved that world-class Research and Development work is possible in Nigeria.
“Furthermore, they demonstrate how the Nigerian University System can be readily effective and relevant to national development if research is valued and adequately funded and the institutions provided with resources to motivate researchers and innovators, including students,” he added.

Credit: PressExpress

Lance Corporal Martins Feared Dead As Chief Of Army Staff Attempts Cover Up

Top sources within the army had informed SaharaReporters that Buratai had vowed to deal ruthlessly with the detained soldier for his action and also treat the order of Justice Chikere with disdain.
There are fears that Lance Corporal Martins Idakpini, the detained soldier arrested for criticising Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, may have been killed by the army as punishment for his action, it has been gathered.
SaharaReporters had earlier reported how the army twice denied Idakpini’s lawyer and family from seeing him in total disregard to an order of the Federal High Court.
Justice AI Chikere of the Abuja Federal High Court held that it was unlawful for the army to continuously deny Idakpini from seeing his lawyer and family.
Top sources within the army had informed SaharaReporters that Buratai had vowed to deal ruthlessly with the detained soldier for his action and also treat the order of Justice Chikere with disdain.
However, there are now fears that the army may have killed Idakpini, who has not been seen or heard from since he was arrested over a month ago.
Human rights activist and National President of Revolutionary Lawyers’ Forum, Mr Tope Akinyode, who is representing Idakpini, said that “Buratai’s action is a coup d’etat on the Nigerian constitution”.
He added, “Buratai is tearing the constitution apart and rendering useless the concept of the rule of law. He is about to become a dictator before our very eyes.”
Idakpini was arrested shortly after he made a video castigating Buratai over the army’s failure to combat and destroy Boko Haram.

Credit: SaharaReporters

Ogun cancels COVID-19 test requirement for private school pupils

Governor of Ogun State , Dapo Abiodun, on Monday , cancelled the initially announced Covid-19 test requirement for resuming pupils in exiting classes .
There has been outrage by parents of pupils in private secondary schools in the state over the request of N 25, 000 COVID -19 test fee by the government .
But in a statement on Monday evening titled, “ Ogun Makes COVID -19 Test Free For All Returning SS3 Boarding Students” , the governor stepped down COVID – 19 test as a requirement for each graduating pupil to resume .
The statement read , “ After reviewing these developments , I have today immediately directed that the Government Laboratories carry out tests for all returning SS3 boarding students at no cost . I have also directed that all those who have paid for tests be refunded.
“ The health of our children remains our utmost priority , however in view of the total number of boarding students to be tested ( 5, 340private and 500 public) , and bearing in mind the limitation of our installed testing capacity of 500 tests per day, it may not be feasible for all boarding students to get tested and get their results prior to resumption or even exams which commence on 17th August 2020.
“ Consequently, the State Government has , therefore , stepped down the COVID – 19 test as a mandatory requirement for returning students in our exit classes .
“ We , therefore , enjoin Private School owners to exercise their duty of care to their pupils. The admittance of students into boarding houses in private secondary schools will be at the discretion of the management and the Parents Teachers Association of such private schools.
“ Ogun State Government recommends that students who do not have to stay in the boarding house should attend school from home, especially those with underlying health conditions.

“ I have also directed the provision of face masks to all students in both private and public schools. The inconvenience and confusion experienced yesterday is highly regrettable and my sincere apologies to the parents and students so affected.
“ The quality and standard of education and well being of our children are issues that are very dear to my heart.
“ I appreciate the cooperation, support, resilience and understanding of all the people of Ogun State towards flattening the curve of COVID -19 in Ogun State . It is my prayer that this phase will end soonest . ”

ShopRite debunks exit rumour, says we are not leaving Nigeria

ShopRite Nigeria has debunked the story making the rounds that it intends to close shop in Nigeria.
The Country Director for Chastex Consult, Ini Archibong, in a telephone conversation with Vanguard, said: “Shoprite is not leaving Nigeria.
“We have only just opened to Nigerian investors which we have also been talking to just before now. We are not leaving, who leaves over a $30billion investment and close shop? It doesn’t sound right.
“We only just given this opportunity to Nigeria investors to come in and also help drive our expansion plan in Nigeria. So we are not leaving.
“I have tried to say this as too many people as I can. There should be no panic at all and all of that. There is no truth in that report.”

Details later…