News & Announcements

Residents of Khartoum awoke Sunday to artillery and rocket fire, hours after an air strike in the city’s south killed at least 20 civilians including two children, according to Sudanese activists.

“The death toll from the aerial bombardment” in southern Khartoum “has risen to 20 civilian fatalities,” according to a statement by the neighborhood’s resistance committee.

They are among many volunteer groups that used to organize pro-democracy demonstrations and now provide assistance to families caught in the crossfire between the army and paramilitary fighters.

In an earlier statement, they said the victims included two children, and warned that more fatalities went unrecorded, as “their bodies could not be moved to the hospital because they were severely burned or torn to pieces in the bombing”.

Since the war began between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on April 15, around 5,000 people have been killed, according to estimates from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.

The Sudanese Armed Forces control the skies and have carried out regular air strikes while RSF fighters dominate the streets of the capital.

Western countries have accused the paramilitaries and allied militias of killings based on ethnicity in the western Darfur region, and the International Criminal Court has opened a new probe into alleged war crimes.

The army has also been accused of abuses, including a July 8 air strike that killed around two dozen civilians.

More than half of Sudan’s 48 million people now require humanitarian aid and protection, and six million are “one step away from famine”, according to the United Nations.

The war has internally displaced around 3.8 million people, the UN says, while another million have crossed borders into neighbouring countries.

Among the displaced are nearly 2.8 million from Khartoum, according to the International Organization for Migration. That is more than half the capital’s pre-war population of around five million.

Those who remain shelter from the crossfire, rationing water and electricity.

In Khartoum, resistance committees have been some of the only sources of relief, helping dig survivors out of the rubble of bombed buildings, braving gunfire on the streets to deliver medicine, and documenting atrocities committed by both sides.

Nearly five months in, the violence shows no signs of abating.

Witnesses on Sunday again reported the army targeting RSF positions in northern Khartoum with “artillery and rocket fire”.

The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) has announced that judgment will be delivered on Wednesday, September 6 in the three pending petitions before it.

It was gathered that the PEPC under the headship of Justice Haruna Tsammani had scheduled judgment for Wednesday in the petitions by the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Atiku Abubakar, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and that by Peter Obi and the Labour Party (LP).

Sources in the court also confirmed that the proceedings planned to commence at 9am and that it will be aired live on television.

A prison in the US state of Minnesota was placed into lockdown on Sunday after dozens of inmates refused to return to their cells.

The protest, staged by around 100 prisoners, was later “resolved without incident”, officials said.

Inmates were unhappy at being kept in their cells due to understaffing over Labor Day weekend, the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC) said.

All inmates had now returned to their cells, a DOC spokesperson added.

Extra police units, firefighters, and other emergency teams were stationed outside the facility in Bayswater, about 25 miles (40km) east of the state’s largest city Minneapolis.

Advocates for the inmates said the incident was a protest over prison conditions, including the excessive heat, limited access to showers and ice, and unclean drinking water.

A US National Weather Service heat advisory is in place until Tuesday for the area, warning temperatures could reach up to 100F (37.7C).

The increasing frequency of dangerously hot conditions has drawn renewed attention to US prisons and calls for reform.

The DOC says the prison is short of 50 officers, exacerbated by the holiday weekend, leading to intermittent lockdowns of inmates since Friday.

It means prisoners have been kept in their cells for more extended periods, reportedly with no air conditioning.

The DOC blamed the unrest in part on the inmates’ frustration over limited access to phones, recreation, and showers, but refuted the claim that inmates were lacking access to clean water.

A spokesperson added that no one was hurt and the situation throughout the day was “calm, peaceful, and stable”.

DOC Commissioner, Paul Schnell said inmates were usually given several hours a day during the weekend for recreation, but holiday-related staff shortages had cut that down to just a single hour.

AFSCME Council 5, the union which represents Minnesota correctional officers, also said that understaffing was to blame for Sunday’s incident.

A spokesperson said the incident was “endemic and highlighted the truth behind the operations of the MN Department of Corrections with chronic understaffing”.

Such conditions upset inmates because of restrictions placed on program and recreation time “when there are not enough security staff to protect the facility”, they added.

In total, about 1,200 inmates are incarcerated at the facility, according to department records.

Chief Olabode George, a former deputy national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, has expressed worry over the judiciary’s role in deciding election winners in Nigeria.

This is because he warned the judiciary against removing the public’s ability to choose the winners of elections.

Following the announcement that the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja would issue its ruling on Wednesday, he expressed his anxiety during a press conference held in his office in Ikoyi on Monday.

In a statement released on Monday, the tribunal said it would rule on the petitions contesting the Independent National Electoral Commission’s announcement that Bola Tinubu had won the 2023 presidential election on Wednesday.

George, however, questioned why the judiciary hadn’t ordered INEC to re-conduct the polls to help the emergence of true winners, as opposed to issuing declarations to decide election winners.

He said, “Our country has been doing, very little positively and very much negatively. In the last few days, I have been thinking as a former military officer and as a civilian since I have served five presidents.

“Our electoral process is shambolic, nonsensical and makes the country nosediving. It is the manipulation of the system.

“A glitch on the day of the election is unforgivable but the INEC chairman told us they were ready but with what happened, generations to come will never forgive him.

“The most contentious issue in Nigeria today is the judiciary, it is one of the pillars of government. Is it right for the judiciary to tell us who won or lost the election? What we understand by democracy is Government of the people by the people and for the people but in our own case it shouldn’t be Government of the judiciary by the judiciary and for the judiciary. Is that democratic?

“It is the will of the people that should prevail. If you discover any wrong, ask them to go back and conduct a fresh election even if it takes a hundred times. The job of the judiciary is not to tell us who lost or who won.”

In response to the tremendous economic problems besetting the country in the wake of the Federal Government’s elimination of subsidies, the Nigeria Labour Congress has pledged to ground the economy and claims that the conditions are in place for a two-day nationwide warning strike.

As they work together to confront the nation’s deepening economic crisis, major stakeholders, including the banking industry, civil society organizations, and labor unions, have overwhelmingly backed this initiative.

The umbrella organization for employees in the banking and insurance sectors, the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees, announced on Monday that it will join the strike, thereby halting all financial activity in Nigeria.

In a statement, Mr. Mohammed Sheikh, General Secretary of NUBIFIE, emphasized the significance of their involvement in the NLC’s two-day warning strike, emphasizing the necessity to alert the government to the grave economic circumstances that Nigerians are now experiencing.

The leadership of NUBIFIE has issued a notice that all banks will be shut down on Tuesday, 5 and Wednesday, 6 September 2023, in line with the NLC two-day strike directive.

“The directives are imperative to get the needed attention of the government and to warn it against interfering in the internal affairs of unions instead of addressing the punishing economic circumstances we find ourselves in,” the statement emphasised.

The owner of a block factory in Bankole Estate, Magboro, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, has been identified only as Hamzat. He allegedly had his Toyota RAV 4 taken by suspected military, who also allegedly broke into the facility.

An Islamic preacher named Sulaimon is sought after by the soldiers, according to Hamzat, who talked with PUNCH Metro on Saturday. The soldiers, who were traveling in a pick-up van, were up to five in number.

He said that the incident started when he asked Sulaimon for special prayers and brought a yet-to-be-named alleged Yahoo boy who is his girlfriend’s brother.

His girlfriend’s brother requested further special prayers after the prayer was successful, and Sulaimon in Lagos’ Agege neighborhood introduced him to another unnamed Islamic cleric.

Hamzat said, “After my brother introduced him to another Alfa for special prayer, maybe he was duped (or he didn’t get the expected returns after payment), I don’t know. My brother also said he did not know what transpired between the boy and the other Alfa.

“On Tuesday, I was called by someone that some people were at my block factory and they wanted to buy blocks. So I rushed down. I told the person the price of my blocks. In the course of that, I just saw some soldiers coming into the estate. They came to me and said they wanted to see me. I asked them what happened, but they started grabbing me.

“When I looked into their car, I saw the guy I introduced to my brother and his sister, who is my girlfriend. Then the soldiers said I should follow them. They said they would drive my car with them, but I refused, I said I couldn’t give them my car key but I would drive along with them since I did not steal or commit any crime.”

He continued by saying that the military had taken him to their barracks in Ebute, where they allegedly demanded N10,000 from him and had impounded his car until he could show them his brother.

Hamzat observed that one of the guards repeatedly demanded that he show his brother in a phone call.

Our correspondent called the alleged soldier’s number, but the person on the other end requested that our correspondent visit the army post in Arepo.

When contacted, Lt Col Ayeni Olabisi, the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army’s spokesperson, offered to look into the situation.

Omolola Odutola, the public relations officer for the Ogun State Police, stated that an investigation was underway.

According to the PPRO, “the case is being investigated,” they said on Sunday.

The first African Climate Summit, with the subject “Driving Green Growth and Climate Finance Solutions for Africa and the World,” will begin in a few minutes.

24 Heads of State and Government from Africa and beyond attend this event, which is supported by Kenyan President William Ruto, at the Kenyatta International Convention Center in Nairobi, Kenya.

With an emphasis on Africa, the summit intends to address the continent’s growing vulnerability to climate change and its implications.

The Nairobi Declaration would eventually be created using it as a platform to inform, frame, and influence commitments, promises, and outcomes.

Except for the unpleasant experiences that many people yesterday had at the accreditation centers, everything appears to be proceeding smoothly this morning.

William Ruto, the president of Kenya, Azali Assoumani, the president of Comoros, and Simon Stiell, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, have all been invited to speak during the opening session.

Part of the highlight of today’s event is the opening session themed, “The Power of the Potential.”

This presentation would highlight Africa’s potential in solving climate concerns and set the stage for ACS and African Climate Week.

Additionally, it underscores the need for a more equitable financial system and Africa’s situation as it approaches the Conference of Parties 28, which will take place in the final week of November through the first few days of December.

At exactly 8:57, Ruto entered the Tsavo Auditorium to fanfare from the band.

African youth delivered a copy of their declaration to Kenyan President William Ruto yesterday at the African Youth Climate Assembly.

Young people and indigenous peoples’ organisations will also present their proclamation today.

The Gabonese military junta on Saturday announced the reopening of borders.The army closed the borders during Wednesday’s military coup which ousted President Ali Bongo.

The takeover in Gabon follows coups in Guinea, Chad, and Niger as well as two each in Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020, worrying international powers with strategic interests at stake.

Military officers led by General Brice Oligui Nguema seized power on Wednesday, placed Bongo under house arrest, and installed Nguema as Head of State, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year hold on power.

The coup – the eighth in West and Central Africa in three years – has raised concerns about a contagion of regional military takeovers that have erased democratic progress in the last two decades.\Coup leaders have come under international pressure to restore civilian government but said last night that they would not rush to hold elections.

The land, sea, and air borders were opened because the junta was “concerned with preserving respect for the rule of law, good relations with our neighbors and all states of the world” and wanted to keep its “international commitments,” the army spokesman said on national television.

Bongo was elected in 2009, taking over from his late father Omar, who came to power in 1967. Opponents say the family did little to share Gabon’s oil and mining wealth.

Following the declaration of a two-day warning strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress, some state chapters of the organised labour union have expressed their readiness to join the industrial action.

The leadership of the state chapters of the labour unions, in separate interviews with our correspondents, said they have ordered their members to join the warning strike which is scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 5 and 6, 2023.

Speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, the Chairman, NLC Lagos chapter, Mrs Agnes Sessi, said Lagos NLC would join the nationwide strike.

“We are under the authority of our national leadership and whatever is decided at the national level is binding on us. So, yes, we are joining the strike,” Sessi affirmed.

Abdullahi Jungle, the chairman of the Sokoto State NLC, also revealed to The PUNCH that the state’s union would organize its members to participate in the two-day warning strike.

The council’s members are scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss the modalities, according to the chairman.

“Yes, we are joining the strike as we are already mobilising our members for the strike.

“We are holding a meeting today on how to go about it, but I can assure you that we will join the strike,” Jungle said.

The NLC chapter in Kano State has declared that it will participate in the planned warning strike and demonstration that the union’s national body has called for.

The National Executive Council meeting in Abuja was where the decision to go on the warning strike was made, according to Kabiru Inuwa, the state NLC chairman, who made the announcement in a phone chat with The PUNCH on Sunday.

“We are going to hold our State Executive Council meeting today (Sunday) around 3pm to finalise the arrangements for the commencement of the warning strike on Tuesday.

“So, we are going to join the strike as directed by the national headquarters of our union because we attended the NEC where the decision was reached,” Inuwa said.

The NLC branch in Ekiti State also announced that its members would participate in the two-day warning strike called by the union’s national leadership.

Kolapo Olatunde, the state chairman, said that if the federal government did not take action to prevent the two-day warning strike, members in Ekiti State will follow suit.

Olatunde stated that members in Ekiti State already had the communication from the national body regarding the issue and that if the necessary wasn’t done by then, members would need to be mobilized.

“There is correspondence towards the decision, there is communique to that effect from the national, that is already with our members. It is a collective decision.”

Similar to this, Ibrahim Fika, the general secretary of the NLC in Gombe State, stated that they had been informed of the strike and will be participating.

In an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, Fika made this revelation.

He claims that the state’s union won’t begin mobilizing until Monday following its State Executive Council meeting.

He said, “This is national. Even if we don’t mobilise, the industrial union headquarters will mobilise them. But for us in Gombe State, we will possibly have our State Executive meeting on Monday because we just returned from Abuja on Friday and today is the weekend.

“I’m very sure the headquarters will communicate to them but nevertheless, we will have our SEC meeting on Monday so that immediately, which is the next day, we will go for action,” Fika added.

The Niger State chapter of the NLC said had gone into a crucial meeting with all its affiliate bodies.

Kingsley Obiora, a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, is reportedly being held by agents from the Department of State Services.

The CBN deputy governor has reportedly spent four nights in the DSS’s detention, according to Peoples Gazette.

According to the source, the DSS was questioning Obiora in relation to claims of financial mismanagement under the direction of the CBN Governor who has since been suspended, Godwin Emefiele.

Emefiele was placed on administrative leave by President Bola Tinubu on June 9 as a result of a probe into the operations of the apex bank.

“This is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy,” a statement by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, said.

Emefiele was taken into custody by the DSS the next day even though the court had granted him bail.

Abdul Isa, a spokesperson for the CBN, and Peter Afunanya, a spokesperson for the DSS, did not answer many calls left on their lines, and neither had returned messages regarding the situation.