Nigeria women’s basketball team D’Tigress have qualified for the quarter-finals of the event at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Nigerian ladies reached the last eight after defeating Canada on Sunday.
More to follow…
The post BREAKING: D’Tigress qualify for first-ever Olympic quarterfinals appeared first on Latest Nigeria News | Top Stories from TVN.
BREAKING: D’Tigress qualify for first-ever Olympic quarterfinals
Investigate police brutality, don urges Tinubu
A senior lecturer at Federal University Kashere, Gombe State, Dr Tukur Yemi, has called on President Bola Tinubu to establish a judicial panel to investigate cases of police brutality during the nationwide protests and ensure justice for victims.
The varsity don highlighted the need for economic managers to implement reforms addressing inequality and creating opportunities for all Nigerians, while also taking concrete steps to address the protesters’ grievances.
This was contained in a press statement titled ‘Nigeria in Crisis: A Plea for Leadership and Reconciliation,’ which was obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.
The scholar said, “As a concerned university lecturer, I appeal for your immediate attention to the escalating protests that are ravaging our nation and claiming innocent lives. The deteriorating security situation in Nigeria has reached a critical juncture, necessitating decisive action from your administration to restore peace and order.”
Explaining further why the government should urgently consider his counsel, he added, “As an academic, I have witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of instability on our students, institutions, and communities. The current protests have led to widespread violence, destruction of property, and loss of lives, underscoring the urgent need for your leadership to address the grievances of the protesters and engage in constructive dialogue with their leaders.”
He asked the Federal Government to deploy security forces to protect lives and property while avoiding excessive use of force, adding that the federal government must collaborate with state governors and other stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the crisis.
While appealing for calm and an end to violence and destruction in the country, the lecturer proposed that the federal government should “immediately reinstate the fuel subsidy to alleviate the economic hardship faced by citizens and assure the protesters that their demands are being taken seriously.”
Release detained protesters, call security agents to order – Timi Frank to Tinubu
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Timi Frank has called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately order the unconditional release of all protesters detained by the police and other security forces.
Frank in a statement released on Sunday also urged the President to prevent further violence and the use of lethal force against peaceful protesters by law enforcement agencies.
He acknowledged that while the ongoing protests are well-intentioned, they have been exploited by sponsored groups in some states, which have aimed to discredit the organizers and provide security forces with an excuse to suppress the demonstrations.
“Nigerians have the inalienable right to protest against government policies that adversely affect them and to demand changes for the collective good,” Frank stated.
Frank criticized the security forces for failing to adhere to the court’s order, which resulted in the unjust killings, arrests, brutalization, and incarceration of protesters, as well as the hijacking of protests by government-sponsored agents to perpetuate criminal acts.
“This situation must not be allowed to continue. The President must genuinely protect the youths who are protesting. He must approach the protesters like a father dealing with an angry child. After all, the youths have no other country to call their own.”
Expressing condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives and wishing a speedy recovery for the injured, Frank urged the International Criminal Court to hold the Inspector General of Police and all Service Chiefs in Nigeria accountable for the killings of unarmed protesters in recent days.
Release detained protesters, call security agents to order – Timi Frank to Tinubu
EndBadGovernance: Hoodlums loot church in Katsina
Hoodlums in their numbers stormed a Living Faith Church in Daura’s local government area of Katsina State and looted about 205 chairs, musical instruments and other valuable items worth millions of naira.
The pastor in charge of the church, David Jato, said the attacks took place in the wake of #EndBadGovernance nationwide protests on Thursday with attendant violent clashes between hoodlums and security operatives.
He explained that as a result of the invasion by the hoodlums, the church could not hold Sunday service in its auditorium, saying that the hoodlums went away with everything inside the church building during the protests.
According to him, “We have two security men working in the church, one was on duty while the other was off. When the protest began around 10:00 am, the hoodlums just diverted to the church, many of them in Keke NAPEP (Tricycle), and broke the doors and glasses and entered the church auditorium.
“They packed everything inside the church auditorium, including the wall digital clock, musical instruments, pulpit, pastor’s chairs, plastic chairs and a desktop computer at the reception, as well as a scoreboard where the accountant usually kept church documents. They scattered everything and went away with them.”
He alleged that three churches were targeted but the hoodlums only succeeded in invading the Living Faith Church and Deeper Life Church but were not successful in forcing themselves into the Anglican Church because of the strong iron protector at the gate.
Jato said the Church leadership has informed the police and the Army about it, saying that the police told them on Saturday that they had made some arrests.
The Pastor expressed surprise by the attack, lamenting that it has now escalated to the invasion of churches, which is something that everyone should seriously condemn.
He lamented, “It is not food that we store in the House of God. It is a place of worship. Why is it only churches? The government should come to the reality they are serving humanity, and God will judge us all, whether political or religious leaders.”
Another Church, Power of Resurrection, according to the former state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Rev. Nelson Onyekachukwu, was also affected in Katsina town, where the hoodlums vandalised the church windows but they couldn’t enter because of the iron protectors of the church.
He then condemned the action in totality and called on the government to change its policy and address the grievances of the people and always ensure to protect the church whenever such an incident happens.
The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Sadiq Abubakar, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state is yet to respond to the message sent to him.
EndBadGovernance: Hoodlums loot church in Katsina
Soyinka condemns attacks on #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protesters
Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, has condemned the attacks on #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protesters and journalists by security agencies.
In a statement on Sunday, Soyinka expressed concern over the Federal Government’s continuing mismanagement of protests.
The poet criticised the use of live bullets and tear gas by the Nigeria Police Force to manage civic protests, saying that such actions would lead to violence.
He said, “I set my alarm clock for this morning to ensure that I did not miss President Bola Tinubu’s impatiently awaited address to the nation on the current unrest across the nation.
“His outline of the government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis. My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short.
“Such short-changing of civic deserving, regrettably, goes to arm the security forces in the exercise of impunity and condemns the nation to a seemingly unbreakable cycle of resentment and reprisals.
“Live bullets as a state response to civic protest – that becomes the core issue. Even tear gas remains questionable in most circumstances, certainly an abuse in situations of clearly peaceful protest. Hunger marches constitute a universal S.O.S., not peculiar to the Nigerian nation. They belong indeed in a class of their own, never mind the collateral claims emblazoned on posters.
“They serve as a summons to governance that a breaking point has been reached and, thus, a testing ground for governance awareness of public desperation. The tragic response to the ongoing hunger marches in parts of the nation, and for which notice was served, constitutes a retrogression that takes the nation even further back than the deadly culmination of the watershed ENDSARS protests.
“It evokes pre-independence – that is, colonial – acts of disdain, a passage that induced the late stage pioneer Hubert Ogunde’s folk opera BREAD AND BULLETS, earning that nationalist serial persecution and proscription by the colonial government.”
Soyinka also urged the security agencies to employ alternative methods of addressing civic protests and shun lethal means of dispersing protesters.
He added, “Need we recall the nationwide 2022/23 editions of what is generally known as the YELLOW VEST movement in France? Perhaps it is time to make such scenarios compulsory viewing in policing curriculum. In all of the coverage that I watched, I did not catch one single instance of a gun levelled at protesters, much less fired at them, even during direct physical confrontations.
“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually proves – a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.
“The time is long overdue, surely, to abandon, permanently, the anachronistic resort to lethal means by the security agencies of governance. No nation is so underdeveloped, materially impoverished, or simply internally insecure as to lack the will to set an example. All it takes is to recall its own history, and then exercise the will to commence a lasting transformation, inserting a break in the chain of lethal responses against civic society.
“Today’s marchers may wish to consider adopting the key songs of Hubert Ogunde’s BREAD AND BULLETS if only to inculcate a sense of shame in the continuing failure to transcend the lure of colonial inheritance where we all were at the receiving end. One way or the other, this vicious cycle must be broken.”
Death toll in new Bangladesh anti-government protests rises to 24
Thousands of Bangladeshi protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resign clashed with pro-government supporters Sunday, with at least 24 people killed in confrontations using sticks, knives and guns.
Protesters danced on the roof of an armoured car and, unlike the past month of rallies that repeatedly ended in deadly crackdowns, soldiers and police in several cases did not intervene.
A respected former army chief, Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan, also demanded the government withdraw troops and allow protests in a hugely symbolic rebuke of Hasina.
Demonstrators in Dhaka, surrounded by a tightly packed and cheering crowd, waved a Bangladeshi flag on top of an armoured car as soldiers watched, according to videos on social media verified by AFP.
Rallies against civil service job quotas sparked days of mayhem in July that killed more than 200 people in some of the worst unrest of Hasina’s 15-year tenure.
Troops briefly restored order but crowds returned to the streets in huge numbers this month in a non-cooperation movement aimed at paralysing the government.
Vast crowds of protesters, many wielding sticks, packed into Dhaka’s central Shahbagh Square on Sunday, with street battles in multiple sites as well as in other key cities, police said.
Police have ordered a nationwide curfew beginning at 6:00 pm (1200 GMT), while mobile internet access was widely curbed in a bid to frustrate the organisation of rallies.
– ‘Battleground’ –
Violence on Sunday took the total of people killed to at least 230.
“There were clashes between students and the ruling party men,” police inspector Al Helal told AFP, saying two young men were killed in Dhaka’s Munshiganj district.
“One of the dead was hacked in his head and another had gunshot injuries.”
Another policeman, who asked not to be identified, said “the whole city has turned into a battleground”.
Two people were killed in the northern city of Kishioreganj, where protesters torched a ruling party office, police said.
Police and doctors also reported deaths elsewhere in Dhaka, in the northern districts of Bogra, Pabna, Rangpur and Sylhet, as well as in Magura in the west, Comilla in the east, and Barisal and Feni in the south.
One of the key protest leaders in the nationwide civil disobedience campaign, Asif Mahmud, earlier asked supporters to be ready after last month’s rallies were crushed by police.
“Prepare bamboo sticks and liberate Bangladesh,” he wrote on Facebook Sunday.
Some former military officers have since joined the student movement and ex-army chief General Ikbal Karim Bhuiyan turned his Facebook profile picture red in a show of support.
“We are deeply concerned, troubled and saddened by all the egregious killings, torture, disappearances and mass arrests that have been tormenting Bangladesh over the past three weeks,” Bhuiyan told reporters Sunday, in a joint statement alongside other senior ex-officers.
“We call the incumbent government to withdraw the armed forces from the street immediately,” Bhuiyan said, adding that people “no longer fear to sacrifice their lives”.
“Those who are responsible for pushing people of this country to a state of such an extreme misery will have to be brought to justice.”
– ‘Live freely’ –
Current army chief Waker-uz-Zaman told officers at military headquarters in Dhaka on Saturday the “Bangladesh Army is the symbol of trust of the people”.
“It always stood by the people and will do so for the sake of people and in any need of the state,” he said, according to an army statement, which gave no further details and did not say explicitly whether the army backed the protests.
The protests have grown into a wider anti-government movement across the South Asian nation of some 170 million people.
The mass movement includes people from all strata of Bangladesh society, including film stars, musicians and singers. Rap songs calling for people’s support have spread widely on social media.
“It is no longer about job quotas,” said Sakhawat, a young female protester who gave only one name, as she scrawled graffiti on a wall at a protest site in Dhaka, calling Hasina a “killer”.
“What we want is that our next generation can live freely in the country.”
A group of 47 manufacturers in the economically vital garment sector said Sunday they stood in “solidarity” with the protesters.
Obaidul Quader, general secretary of Hasina’s ruling Awami League, has called on party activists to gather “in every district” nationwide to show their support for the government.
Hasina, 76, has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.
Her government is accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including through the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.
Demonstrations began in early July over the reintroduction of the quota scheme, which reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups. It has since been scaled back by Bangladesh’s top court.
AFP
Otti commends Abia residents for not joining #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest
Abia State Governor Alex Otti has thanked Abian residents for heeding his plea not to join the ongoing hardship protests, which have led to loss of life and property destruction.
Otti expressed his gratitude on Saturday, August 3, while attending Sabbath worship at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, No 1 School Road, in the Aba South Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
Recall that Otti had previously appealed to Abians not to join the protests during a private breakfast meeting with Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
In a state broadcast on July 31, the governor acknowledged the people’s right to peaceful protest but expressed concern that hoodlums might hijack the protests and undermine the progress made under his administration.
Addressing the congregation, who were pleased to have him worship with them, Otti said, “I want to thank you and all Abia people who listened to my plea not to take to the streets, disrupt services and activities, or potentially cause mayhem.”
“The reason is not that conditions are not challenging; far from it. I recognise the difficulties we face today, but two wrongs do not make a right. Many of our people rely on daily earnings—traders, Keke riders, barbers, and taxi drivers — who put food on their tables based on their daily income.”
Otti noted that disrupting the activities of those who depend on daily earnings would only exacerbate the problems the protesters seek to address.
He added, “My plea was for us to discuss matters calmly. I want to thank Abia people for heeding that call. This does not mean we lack the right to protest, but there are more constructive ways to do so. I assure you that our Government has heard not only what you have said but also what you have not said.”
The governor also announced, to the delight of the congregation, that School Road would soon be repaired.
“As I arrived, I noticed the poor condition of this road (School Road). Rest assured, it will be fixed soon,” he said.
He encouraged the church members to focus on their blessings and the positive things God has done for them.
Otti expressed gratitude to the Church for their support since 2015, when he first contested the election, and for their continued support of his administration. He urged them to keep him and the Government in their prayers daily.
In a sermon titled, “Living out the Christian Slogan,” the resident Pastor, Ifeanyichukwu Nwaoguikpe, stressed that God has a specific purpose or mission for everyone on Earth.
He urged Christians to preach the gospel of everlasting life and the second coming of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible book of Matthew 28.
Nwaoguikpe also warned of impending doom and encouraged people to help those in need, illustrating his sermon with the story of the Good Samaritan from the Bible.
The officiating ministers of the Church prayed for the governor, his entourage, and the State.
Otti was joined in the service by the lawmaker representing Aba Central State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Ucheonye Stephen; Special Assistant to the Governor on Religious Affairs, Apostle K.C. Wiper; the Mayor of Aba South, Hon. Uche Nwogu; the Abia State Acting Chairman of the Labour Party, Sir Emmanuel Nwaeze Otti; and others.
Despite Tinubu’s plea, #EndBadGovernance protests continue as thugs descend on Lagos protesters
Despite a plea by President Bola Tinubu for protesters in the ongoing EndBadGovernanceInNigeria to shelve their protests and give room for dialogue, the protests have continued in some parts of the country.
In Lagos, violence erupted as suspected thugs attacked the protesters in a bid to disperse them from the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota, venue of their gathering.
Trouble started after Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paul Okafor, who had addressed the protesters left the venue, followed by other security personnel.
Okafor had pleaded with the protesters to go home and await government‘s intervention on their demands.
READ ALSO:12 key takeaways from Tinubu’s broadcast on nation-wide protests
This caused some division among the protesters as some agrees they should leave the venue, but others insisted on continuing the protest.
A lawyer simply identified as JP led the group who urged protesters to leave the venue and go home, based on President Tinubu’s national address earlier in the day. But Adegboyega Adeniji of Peace Action Transformation led another faction that refused to leave the protest venue.
While the arguments were ongoing, a group of individuals, suspected to be thugs, emerged from across the street and began chasing them away.
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Protesters hold church service at protest ground in Jos (Photos)
The ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests to draw attention to the economic situation in the country entered day four on Sunday with protesters still turning out to join the demonstrations.
In Jos, the Plateau State capital, the Christians among the protesters opted to attend church service at the protest ground, as against going to a physical church.
They held a live Sunday service at the protest ground in the Old Airport Junction in Jos with prayers offered for divine intervention in the economic crisis bedeviling Nigerians.
The service was conducted by Prophet Isa El-Buba, who has been part of the hunger protest since August 1, when the protests kicked off.
The continued protest is still ongoing despite a charge by President Bola Tinubu for the organisers to suspend it and give room for dialogue.
The president in a nation-wide protest on Sunday had listed programs his government had put in place to alleviate the hardships on the people.
READ ALSO:FOR THE RECORD: Text of Tinubu’s full speech to address protests across Nigeria
He also justified why he had to remove the subsidy on fuel and take a stand on foreign exchange policies.
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APC chieftain urges end to protests in response to president’s appeal
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has urged the organisers of the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest to listen to President Bola Tinubu and end the protest.
Oyintiloye said that since the President had acknowledged hearing their grievances, they should embrace dialogue as suggested.
The APC chieftain, speaking to newsmen on Sunday in Osogbo, said that the wanton destruction of property, looting, and killing of innocent Nigerians could not be justified in the name of a protest.
He noted that the reported killing of about 10 persons in Niger, Borno, Kano, and Kaduna during the protest was disheartening.
Oyintiloye, a member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council, acknowledged that there is no doubt about the hunger in the country but stated that going violent against the government and the people was not the best way to address the present situation.
He said shutting down a fragile economy like Nigeria’s for 10 days would be counter-productive, resulting in more suffering for the masses.
The APC chieftain also expressed dismay at the destruction of the federal government’s multi-million naira digital innovation park in Kano, among other properties.
Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker, acknowledged the constitutional right to protest within fundamental human rights but stressed that the protest should be properly managed to avoid escalating into riots.
He said that the protest, which had resulted in killing, looting, and destruction, could no longer be described as a protest but a riot.
He added, “Such riot acts contravene section 71 of the Criminal Code Acts of Nigeria which explicitly states that ‘Any person who takes part in a riot is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for three years.’
“Therefore, protesters must be careful not to allow their activities to be interpreted as a riot, which is a punishable offence.”
Oyintiloye noted that while the organisers of the protest might have genuine reasons for holding a peaceful protest, there were individuals, who could be described as enemies of the nation, who might want to use the protest to destabilise the government.
He appealed to the youths and the organisers to embrace dialogue, adding that President Bola Tinubu meant well for the country.
“I want to appeal to the youths and the organisers of the hunger protest to embrace dialogue and allow the President to do what is needed.
“Protest is a constitutional right, but killings, looting, and destruction of both government and private property are not permitted by the law.
“Let’s be cautious of the fact that there are some disgruntled individuals who are planning to use the protest to destabilise the government. We must not allow this.
“There is no doubt that there is hunger and poverty in the land, but we can rest assured that the President is doing his best to improve the economy, but this cannot be achieved within a year.
“Let’s give the President the chance to address the situation, and let’s embrace dialogue for the peace and stability of the country. The President has spoken; let’s listen to him and give the administration more time,” he said.
Oyintiloye commended the security agencies for their efforts in safeguarding lives and property during the protest and urged them to continue to be professional in the discharge of their duties.
He also appealed to the protesters not to provoke the security agencies, whose responsibility is maintaining law and order in society.