PRESIDENCY CALLS FOR CALM – DAILY TRUST PG.12, PUNCH PG.11, SUN PG.27

The Presidency has appealed to Nigerians to remain calm. In a statement on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said

the “presidency reiterates the full commitment of the Buhari administration to the implementation of lasting police reforms in Nigeria.”

POLICE BRUTALITY: PRESIDENT BUHARI WELCOMES ESTABLISHMENT OF JUDICIAL PANELS OF INQUIRY BY 13 STATES – SUN PG.27

President Muhammadu Buhari welcomed on Wednesday the establishment of judicial panels of inquiry by a number of states across the country to deliver justice to victims of Police brutality. At the last count, no fewer than 13 States have gone ahead to establish the Judicial Panels of Inquiry as resolved by the National Economic Council (NEC), to address the question of redress and justice for victims of police brutality across the country.

NHRC INAUGURATES PANEL ON SARS – THISDAY PG.37

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) yesterday inaugurated an Independent Investigation Panel on human rights violations by operatives of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other units of the Nigeria Police Force. The panel, which is headed by a retired justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Suleiman Galadima, is saddled with the responsibility of investigating allegations of human rights violations and abuse of power by operatives ofthe defunct SARS and other units of the Police, as well as determine damages or compensation payable in relations to any violation of human rights and refer any matter of human rights violation for prosecution to the Attorney General of the Federation or State Attorney General as the case may be.

IGP WITHDRAWS POLICEMEN ATTACHED TO VIPS – DAILY TRUST PG.10, PUNCH PG.28, THISDAY PG.9

The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the withdrawal of all police officers attached to all VIPs across the nation with immediate effect, DAILY POST reports. However, Adamu said those attached to government houses, the Senate President and the Speaker House of Representatives, should not be withdrawn.

#ENDSARS: ANARCHY IN LAGOS – DAILY TRUST PG.1&4, PUNCH PG.10, THISDAY PG.8, SUN PG.7

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital came under heavy attacks on Wednesday hours after the shooting of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the popular Lekki Toll Plaza. Arsonists went on a rampage and burnt the headquarters of the Nation Newspapers and TV Continental that are linked to the National Leader of the ruling APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

#ENDSARS: DSS, POLICE CHIEFS BRIEF SENATE – DAILY TRUST PG.36

he Senate has called on all well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in the ongoing demonstrations nationwide with a view to halting the EndSARS protests. Senate President Ahmad Lawan made the call after the Senate leadership received security briefings on the protests. The Inspector-General of Police, Adamu Mohammed, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Yusuf magaji Bichi were in attendance.

BENIN JAILBREACK: OBASEKI ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO FLEEING INMATES – DAILY TRUST PG.37, PUNCH PG.9, THISDAY PG. 35

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo on Wednesday issued ultimatum to fleeing inmates of the Benin Custodial Centre on Sapele road and the Oko Maximum Security Correctional Centre on Airport road to return to the prisons before Friday, October 23, 2020. Obaseki gave the ultimatum while inspecting the correctional centres and the police facilities destroyed by hoodlums in Benin.

HOODLUMS SET NDLEA OFFICE ABLAZE, CART AWAY SEIZED INDIAN HEMP – DAILY TRUST PG.38

Suspected hoodlums under the guise of #EndSARS protest on Wednesday set ablaze the Edo state office of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). It was gathered that they set the office on fire after carting away seized cannabis and other hard substance from its warehouse. The hoodlums attacked the office located at Upper Sakpoba area in Ikpoba Okha local government of Edo state in the afternoon when Soldiers on patrol dispersed the protesters who mounted a roadblock in the area.

REPS PROBE NDDC N6.2BN COVID-19 FUND DIVERSION, N139BN FRAUD – PUNCH PG.28, THISDAY PG.37, SUN PG.3

The House of Representatives has begun investigation into the alleged diversion of N6.2bn meant for COVID-19 palliatives under the Niger Delta Development Commission at the peak of the pandemic. The House is also investigating the mismanagement of N139.317bn between 2013 and 2018, as alleged by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

CAPTURE IKPEAZU TO FACE TRIAL, NNAMDI KANU TELLS IPOB MEMBERS – PUNCH PG.26

The leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has told his members to “capture” Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, to face trial for the alleged role he played in the killing of #ENDSARS protesters in the state. Kanu, in a statement that he personally signed, ordered that Ikpeazu must be apprehended anywhere he was sighted.

UN GROUP DECLARES DETENTION OF SOWORE AS ARBITRARY, ASKS FG TO STOP HIS TRIAL – PUNCH PG.26, THISDAY PG.35

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has declared the detention of Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, by the Federal Government for about 144 days in 2019 as arbitrary under international law. This is contained in the decision of the group titled, ‘Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-seventh session, 27 April–1 May 2020’.

EXTORTION: EFCC TENDERS, CASH, AUDIO RECORDINGS AGAINST SHEHU SANI – PUNCH PG.10

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday tendered some items, including a cash sum of $25,000, as exhibits in the ongoing trial of a former Kaduna Central senator, Shehu Sani, who is being prosecuted on charges of extortion. The EFCC had on January 27, 2020 arraigned the former senator for fraud involving alleged extortion of $25,000 from Alhaji Sani Dauda, who runs A.S.D. Motors.