News & Announcements

Local authorities in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo reported on Thursday that suspected militants from the Allied Democratic Forces were responsible for at least 40 fatalities in two separate attacks.

The ADF, one of the deadliest armed factions in Eastern Congo, is accused of massacring thousands of civilians and is identified by the Islamic State group as its affiliate in central Africa.

In the Beni district of North Kivu province, fighters from the organization reportedly attacked the neighboring communities of Mukondi and Mausa on Wednesday night and early on Thursday.

Local administrator Kalunga Meso described the area as “very desolate,” adding that “They collected up people and then murdered them.”

He told AFP that the death toll was tentative and that there had been 38 fatalities in Mukondi and eight in Mausa.

Local civil society leader Mumbere Arsene reported that eight people had died in Mausa and 37 had died in Mukondi.

“All the dead people were killed with knives,” he said.

A reputable violence monitor, the Kivu Security Tracker, reported on Thursday that armed men had used machetes to kill at least 30 people in Mukondi.

The number of fatalities could not be verified.

The ADF, one of the many dangerous armed organizations operating in eastern Congo, has been charged with a number of bombings and massacres of civilians.

According to observers, many have perished at its hands, many of them in the Beni region.

Since late 2021, a joint Congolese-Ugandanese military effort has been aimed at the militia in Eastern DRC, although attacks have persisted.

This Monday, the US announced a reward of up to $5 million for information regarding Seka Musa Baluku, the leader of the ADF.

Unknown numbers of persons were hurt when a passenger train ran over a staff bus for the Lagos State Government as it was traveling from Ikotun to the state secretariat, Alausa, in the state’s PWD district.

On Thursday, the accident happened just after 7 a.m.

“Rescue efforts are still going on”, according to Lagos State Traffic Management Authority spokesperson Taofiq Adebayo.

“The accident recorded many casualties as the bus is fully loaded with Lagos State government staff members going to the office this morning.”

Emmanuel Odunlami, a music manager of Nigerian descent, was fatally attacked in the UK over what authorities suspect to be a fake luxury watch worth up to $300,000.

Odunlami was attacked by three thieves after hosting a party to celebrate his birthday, according to recent testimony presented at the Old Bailey, which serves as the principal criminal court for England and Wales.

The 32-year-old music manager was reportedly attacked on May 1, 2022, after leaving the Haz restaurant next to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, according to Daily Mail.

Security guard Kavindu Hettiarachchi is alleged to have informed Odunlami’s attackers that he was sporting a Patek Philippe Nautilus watch.

The prosecutor, Duncan Atkinson KC, stated during the court proceeding that it is thought the watch “may not have been genuine.”
Nonetheless, he said, the criminals handled the object as if it were real.

“Sadly, as it was to turn out, he liked expensive brand watches. At the time when he was fatally attacked, he was wearing a Patek Philippe Nautilus watch,” the prosecutor said.

“If real, such a watch could be worth anything in a range from £90,000 to £300,000.

“It is believed the deceased’s watch may not have been genuine, but was treated as genuine by those who sought to take it.”

During the exclusive ticketed brunch and afterparty with DJ, Atkinson claimed that Hettiarachchi was “an key component of the security team” and had been engaged by the events planner.

“It was part of his role to protect the safety of those, like Mr Odunlami, who was attending the event. In fact he did the opposite,” he said.

Old Bailey was informed that Hettiarachchi called Louis Vandross, who is thought to be one of the robbers, following the incident.

The jury was informed that Quincy Ffrench later drove Vandrose and Jordell Menzies in a white Mercedes from north-west London with altered license plates.

“The evidence shows that Ffrench, Vandrose and Menzies were setting off in car with a disguised registration in order to carry out a robbery and that their target for that robbery was at the Haz restaurant where Hettiarachchi was working, and to which by phone he had summoned them,” the prosecutor said.

The security guard allegedly recorded the victim and his “high-value” watch before seeming like he was typing something into his phone.

“The prosecution case is that he was making those other defendants aware of Mr Odunlami and his watch, in order that they could rob him of that apparently very valuable item,” Atkinson said.

The Independent National Electoral Commission has been ordered by the Federal High Court in Lagos to electronically and directly transfer the results of the upcoming governorship and state House of Assembly elections in Lagos State from the polling places to the IReV.

The Labour Party and 41 other parties had sued, seeking a mandamus order to compel INEC to follow the Electoral Act and its rules for the conduct of the elections. Justice Peter Lifu issued the order in his judgment on the case.

The judge determined that because the lawsuit was filed in conformity with the law’s provisions, the court had the authority to hear it.

Additionally, he determined that the relief requested by the applicants has nothing to do with election administration and instead deals with election preparation.

The applicants’ only goal, according to Justice Lifu, was to force the electoral board to observe the Constitution, its rules, and directives after it did not during the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25.

Therefore the court granted the applicants “an order of mandamus directing and compelling the defendant and all its agents and their privies or any persons acting under their directions to comply with and enforce the provision of Clause 37 of the Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022 for the conduct of the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Lagos State on 11 March 2023, to wit: Mandating the Presiding Officer of all Polling Units to paste the Publication of Result Poster EC60(E) at the Polling Units conspicuously after completing the EC8A result sheet.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made an important pronouncement that is creating a stir in Nigeria’s political arena.

The eagerly anticipated governorship and state assembly elections slated for this Saturday have been postponed to March 18, 2023.

This decision was taken because INEC was unable to quickly adapt the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) voting equipment used in the February 25 presidential election so that they could be utilized in the state elections.

The decision by INEC to postpone the polls is a result of its dedication to following the law and maintaining a trustworthy electoral process.

According to a statement released by the commission, “The decision is in compliance with the legal requirement and to ensure that we conduct a free, fair and credible election.”

“It is a necessary step to ensure that all voters are given the opportunity to exercise their democratic right to choose their leaders without any impediment.

The public has been reassured by INEC that it is making every effort to ensure that the new election date is adequately announced and that all parties are kept informed.

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, a candidate for governor from the Labour Party in Lagos state, has been to the location of the Igbo-owned stores that were burned down by thugs last night.

While denouncing the conduct, he expressed sympathy for the victims who lost millions of naira’s worth of property.

A tweep wrote, “@GRVlagos arrive at the scene of the inferno in Ajegunle where Igbo shops were set ablaze by APC thugs in the early hours of today. 

“One thing is sure, Gbedebo will never Instigate ethnic violence like the present administration in Lagos state.”

The Chinese-owned video-sharing software TikTok is considered a security danger by the Czech cyber watchdog, which joined other Western authorities in issuing the warning on Wednesday.

Due to worries that TikTok may offer Chinese authorities access to private user information, the app has been under increasing investigation in several nations.

If installed on “devices accessing important information and communication infrastructure,” according to a warning from the Czech National Cyber and Information Security Agency, TikTok might be dangerous.

“The Agency is concerned about a potential security threat stemming from the use of TikTok primarily due to the amount of user data that is collected by the app as well as the way the data is handled,” it said.

ByteDance, the parent firm of TikTok, “stands under the legal jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China,” the NUKIB continued, adding that this worried it.

A bill to outlaw the software, which US government employees are currently not allowed to download on their devices, has been presented by US politicians.

TikTok usage is prohibited for employees of the European Union, as well as in Canada and Denmark.

Despite being a member of the EU, the Czech government has not yet implemented a ban.

China was singled out as a significant threat to Czech cyberspace by the country’s national intelligence agency BIS in a study released last year.

“Chinese technologies penetrating important networks of state infrastructures… can be evaluated as a major security threat,” it said.

Items worth millions of naira have been destroyed in a fire event that occurred at Akere Spare Parts Market, Ajegunle in the Apapa district of Lagos State.

The lifeless body of a 65-year-old security guard was also claimed to have been recovered near the location of the tragedy.

In a statement on Wednesday, the director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Adeseye Margaret, stated that the incident began at around 3:28 am and that the Ajegunle Fire Station was the first to arrive on the scene.

The statement partly read, “Upon arrival, it was discovered that rows of shops that traded in auto spare parts were well alight that led to Sari-Iganmu and Ilupeju Fire Crews of the Agency joining up to subdued the raging Fire and salvage a nearby major market Petroleum Filling Station with a fully loaded 33,000 liters PMS tanker amongst other adjoining buildings.

“However, a male adult was recovered by the Tolu Police Division of the Nigerian Police around the scene while the Lagos Neighborhood and Safety Corps and the Red Cross were also in attendance.”

In order to determine the cause of the fire and account for the quantity of lockup shops and goods lost, Adeseye continued.

The victim was shot to death, according to Benjamin Hundeyin, the police public relations officer.

He stated, “A 65-year-old security guard in the market was shot dead. We have identified him and his corpse has been taken to the mortuary. An investigation is ongoing.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) decision to modify the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, or BVAS, it employed for the presidential election was rejected on Tuesday by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room.

In a statement released in Abuja, The Situation Room, a coalition of 70 civil society organizations (CSOs) working to support credible and transparent elections in the nation, expressed concern over the issue of the preservation of data gathered during the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections.

The statement, which was signed by conveners of the CSOs, Ene Obi, Asma’u Joda and James Ugochukwu, further read, “Situation Room will like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to clarify to the public how it intends to ensure that data collected in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) used in the election will be preserved for use in the review and audit of the elections.

“Electoral accountability requires that information collected during elections are preserved for use in the audit and review of the election and for accountability purposes.

“In the light of the disputations that have emerged and the controversy surrounding the 2023 general elections, Situation Room is asking INEC to ensure that its records and data related to the election are held safely and securely to ensure its use for the purposes of scrutiny and accountability.

“Reports indicating that the BVAS may need to be reconfigured or even erased for the upcoming State Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections due on Saturday, 11th March 2023 is a serious cause for concern and we worry that this could further pose additional credibility questions over the integrity and conduct of the 2023 general elections.”

Ike Ekweremadu, the embattled former deputy Senate president, claimed in court in London that he believed physicians were “scamming” him.

He is accused of planning to use a man for a kidney transplant.

Ekweremadu, 60, is charged with arranging for a man to come to Britain so that he might be used as an organ donor for his ill daughter.

The Old Bailey court heard that a 21-year-old street vendor from Lagos would receive up to £7,000 in return for a kidney.

He was promised opportunities in the UK for helping Ekweremadu’s daughter.

The same accusation is refuted by Mr. Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, 56, daughter Sonia, 25, and medical “middleman,” Dr. Obinna Obeta.

The court was informed that the street vendor made up the identity of Sonia’s cousin in an unsuccessful attempt to convince doctors at the Royal Free Hospital in London to perform the £80,000 private treatment.

Ekweremadu, who owns a residence in Willesden Green in north-west London, was questioned during his testimony on Tuesday regarding an invoice for £8,000 that he received through his brother, Diwe, on February 8, 2022.

Diwe claimed in his message to have received a “large invoice” from a consultant physician.

He wrote; “It looks like they’re all out to exploit people’s unfortunate situation,” the court heard.

The accused claimed that he felt like he was being “scammed” to the jury.

Martin Hicks KC, a defense attorney, questioned: “Why not at this point declare we are being conned, Dr. Obeta, end of, stop?”

My daughter’s life was in jeopardy, so if we stop, her life will be in risk, Ekweremadu retorted. We simply keep traveling, then.

“Everybody was obviously taking advantage of my daughter’s ill health.”

Also brought forward was an unsigned affidavit from January 19, 2022 that was found in Dr. Obeta’s Southwark, London, residence and erroneously claimed that the potential donor was Sonia’s cousin.

Ekweremadu said jurors; “I felt embarrassed because that’s not true and I told my daughter to ignore the document.”

He added; “I told her not to sign it… If you sign an affidavit you have to tell the truth.”

Asked who created the document, the defendant said: “I have no idea.”

Ekweremadu claimed his family had written to a court in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, to identify the origin of the affidavit.

Mr Hicks told the court: “It’s a forgery.”

Mr Ekweremadu agreed.

The trial continues.