The #FixPolitics Initiative has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to listen to the #EndSARS protesters, ensure that peace and justice prevail as well as demonstrate the virtues of good governance by acting on their demands.

FixPolitics, a research-based citizens collective, made up of Nigerians across various demographic groups and professional endeavours, also called on the federal and state governments to stop endangering the lives of peaceful #EndSARS protesters and grant their demands urgently.

It made this call in a press statement issued on Monday, and signed by its 103 Work Study Group members.

The group said, as a citizens-led movement created to structurally change and innovate politics across Africa, starting in Nigeria, it was lending its voice to the call for an end to brutality by the state security apparatus, especially the Special Anti-robbery Squad unit of the Nigeria Police or any other name it goes by.

“We are in strong support for calls to end the wanton maiming, killing and inhuman activities being perpetrated by wolves in sheep’s clothing in the Nigeria Police Force.

“We therefore call on the President Commander-in-Chief to build trust with the protesters by acting on the immediate measures they have demanded,” the statement read.

It also read, “As it is known the world over, an injustice to one is an injustice to all. The #FixPolitics Initiative will continue to use its platform to fight for the just cause of the masses through legitimate dialogue and peaceful means.

“The police must secure the lives and properties of Nigerians, especially the young ones who comprise the majority of our population.

”Federal and state governments, along with the law enforcement agencies, should also endeavour to distinguish between violence orchestrated by elements outside of the peaceful #EndSARS protests.”

The statement added, “Towards this, #FixPolitics urges the government to reform and position the police force for the changing needs of Nigeria in the 21st century.”

The group also called for a total and holistic re-orientation of the Nigerian Police Force, urging the Federal Government to use its machinery to ensure the protection of the lives of Nigerians.

Due to the growing rate of dependence on technology and the increasing rate of cyber-attacks, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) organised a national Cyber security Awareness Virtual Summit 2020 with the theme ‘Cyber-Aware Citizenry: A Foundation of The Digital Economy’, ’ to empower all Nigerians on how to stay safe and more secure online.


Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE Director General NITDA while delivering his welcome address cautions Nigerians to stay safe online, he said, “If we connect to the internet we have the responsibility to protect it which is why the objective of the summit is to empower Nigerians to own their role in protecting their own part of cyberspace”.


“If we all do our part, implementing stronger security practices, raising community awareness, educating vulnerable ones, or training employees our interconnected world will be safer and more resilient for all of us”, said the DG.
Mal. Abdullahi revealed that, “It is part of the Agency’s unprecedented effort to promote safe online behaviour and practices because more and more Nigerians are using new technologies and spending more time online. “Our growing dependence on technology, coupled with the increasing threat of cyber attacks, demands greater security in our online world. We are sharing simple, easy-to-understand resources and tips to help you ensure your safety and security online. The campaign involves sharing resources to help you with the skills you need to make more informed decisions when using the Internet, he added.


“Cybercriminal activities are counterproductive to our efforts to create national economic prosperity through exploiting digital economy. Developing a digital economy hinges on trust and safer cyberspace, therefore, at NITDA we embarked on this annual campaign to build trust in our journey to a digital Nigeria”, he added.


The summit is in commemoration with the global Cyber-Security Awareness Month. It targets four strata of the society: public organisations, parents and children, youth, and corporate organisations. The contents are focused on sensitizing Nigerians to stay safe and avoid criminality while online.
The activities lined up for the purpose of this awareness are: October Month Cyber security campaign; Capacity Building on Cyber security for Legislative Officers; Cyber security Sensitization Summit; Nationwide Cyber security Awareness Campaign; and a Webinar Series.


The summit which is expected to run for 4 days will cater for the following sub themes for each day; securing information assets in the digital economy; Cybersecurity Career Opportunities: Midwifing Youth Participation in Cyberspace; Child Online Protection: Creating a Cyber-secure Home for Children and Parents; and Protecting Your Online Presence while executing your mandate in the Digital Economy Era.
Mr Hakeem Ajijola while presenting a paper on the topic Cyber security response to COVID – 19 pandemic advised that all users be it on private or government online platforms must practice exceptional cyber-hygiene, change passwords; encrypt all data set, monitor and backup websites periodically.


Rev. Sunday Folayan who presented a paper on industry Expectation of Government action on Policy, Strategy and Enforcement of opined that it is important to keep records of cyber attacks so that you are fully aware of a situation and how to tackle it. He called on Government to enforce standards as some Government Agency continues to use yahoo and Gmail. And also for to encourage all key players to work together to secure information infrastructures
NITDA has said that a secure cyberspace is a criterion to a robust Digital Economy. And when there is a cyber attack Government websites are potential targets. That is why the Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) acidulously working to forestall that since Cyber security is more about risk management.

My attention has been drawn to the news making the round in some quarters of the media, alleging that the Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Umahi has defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC).

The news is a product of a figment of imagination on the part of the carriers as Governor Umahi was, is, and is still flying the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

It is, however, difficult to observe how people are easily persuaded to believe in fake dummies in the name of rumours.

If for any reason, Governor Umahi wishes to leave People Democratic Party (PDP), it will be officially communicated and can never be a product from rumour mongers.

The general public is advised to jettison such unfounded rumour.

Francis Nwaze
Special Assistant to the Governor
(Media and Publicity)
Email: ebonyinewsroom@gmail.com

…Promises compensation, other remedial measures

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, on Saturday, for the second time in two days, addressed youths in the state who were protesting against #PoliceBrutality in the country, announcing the setting up of a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to investigate complaints of police brutality or related extra judicial killings, as demanded by the protesters.

Gov. Ugwuanyi who addressed the #EndSars protesters amid cheers, reiterated his government’s position on the demands made by the protesting youth and disclosed that the panel will be chaired by a High Court Judge with two representatives of the Civil Society Groups and one retired Police Officer of high repute as members.

Other members of the panel, according to Gov. Ugwuanyi, include one youth representative, one student representative, a representative of the State Attorney General and another from the Human Rights Commission.

The governor who applauded the protesters, led by two prominent artists, Flavor and Phyno, for the peaceful nature of the protest expressed the solidarity of the government and people of the state to their cause.

He added that the panel is saddled with the responsibility of receiving and investigating complaints of police brutality or related extra judicial killings; evaluate evidence presented/other surrounding circumstances and draw conclusion as to the validity of the complaints and then recommend compensation and other remedial measures where appropriate.

Gov. Ugwuanyi also announced that his administration will establish a human rights public complaints team of between two and three persons to receive complaints on an on-going basis, adding that the team will be established by the special committee on security and human rights.

“We have also resolved that we will set up complaints commission which the public can relate to by telephone or social media channels”, the governor said.

While appreciating Ndi Enugu for the overwhelming support and goodwill especially when they reelected him in 2019 with an unprecedented 95.54 percent of the valid votes cast, which he said was a referendum on his performance, Gov. Ugwuanyi reassured them that his administration will do all that it has promised to do for the people in spite of the nation’s challenges.

The deputy governor, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo, who accompanied the governor to the event, had on Tuesday, presented the state government’s position accepting to address all the demands made by the protesting youth also led by Flavour and Phyno.

Enugu State is in the hands of God!

The Kano Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission today October 16, 2020 arraigned one Abubakar Ibrahim before Justice Lewis A. Allagoa of the Federal High Court, sitting in Kano, Kano State on a five count charge of money laundering.

One of the counts read ” That you Abubakar Ibrahim (being the Managing Director of Flexus Global Investment Ltd) while acting in such capacity, sometimes in 2019 in Kano, Kano State within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court did fail to declare the existence of your company with Special Control Unit Against Money Laundry (SCUML) before commencing business under the name Flexus Global Investment Limited and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 5(1) (a) (i) and punishable under Section 5(6) (a) & (b) of Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (As Amended).

The Defendant pleaded ’’not guilty” to the charges preferred against him.

In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, Michael Ojo asked the court for a date to commence; that the accused person be remanded in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

But the defence counsel, H.A Hamza urged the court to admit the defendant to bail.

Justice Allagoa granted the defendant bail in the sum of Fifty Million Naira (N50, 000,000.00), with one surety in like sum. The surety must be the owner of a landed property within Kano metropolis, which shall be verified by the registry of the court.

The case has been adjourned till November 19, 2020 for trial.

The defendant who is promoter of Flexus Global Investment allegedly used the company which is not duly registered with the SCUML to engage in foreign exchange trading. Through one of his agents, Umar Kabir, he allegedly obtained a total sum of Seven Million Six Hundred Thousand Naira (N7, 600,000.00) from the complainant with the promise of 30-35 percent monthly return on investment.

However, after investing the said sum the complainant neither received the promised interest nor get a refund of the sum invested.

President Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States of America and the leader of the free world, is God’s annointed.

Nothing and no-one can take that away from him or stop him. He is the biblical King Cyrus in Isaiah 45. He is God’s “trump card” who came to “build the walls” and through him the walls of the Church in America shall be rebuilt.

The mainstream media can scandalise and demonise him all they like and they can even get some of his friends, associates, relatives and colleagues to blacklist, demonise, fabricate stories and lie about him just to destroy his credibility and stop him but it makes no difference.

All of them put together coupled with all the forces of hell and their master satan cannot stop a man who has been annointed and chosen by the Living GOD to lead a nation and the free world. It is what God purposes that matters and nothing else.

The Bible says, “Once has it been written and twice has it been heard that all power belongs to God and the Heavens do rule in the affairs of men”. Once the Lord has decreed a thing and His purpose is established and clear, the perceptions and opinion of mortals mean nothing and changes nothing.

The Lord rules in the affairs of men and forges the destiny of nations. He is awesome in battle and irresistable and His will cannot be thwarted.

Do you think that it is by accident that Trump has overcome every obstacle that has been placed in his way by the Dems over the last 4 years?

Do you think it is by accident that he emerged, against all odds, as the Republican paty candidate in 2016 even though all former Republican presidents and most leading Republicans were against him?

Do you think that it was by accident that he kept bouncing back in business over the years even though he was declared bankrupt several times and had numerous failures?

Do you think that it was by accident that throughout his life when he had financial problems the banks kept bailing him out and giving him another chance and his friends kept supporting him?

Do you think that it was by accident that he married several times and that each one failed and crashed till the right woman came along?

Do you think that it was by accident that he spoke out more than any other American President in history, living or dead, about the killing and persecution of Christians all over the world and particularly in nations like Nigeria?

Do you think it was by accident that the first prophecy where he was mentioned by name by tried, tested and respected men of God that one day he would be President of America and leader of the free world came out in 1986, the second in 1996, the third in 2007 and then finally the fourth in 2014.

Many mocked the prophecies at the time and labelled him unworthy and irresponsible but in 2016, to the amazement of the entire world, the Lord honored His word.

God cannot be resisted. He sees the heart of men and makes His choices accordingly. And neither is He a liar. Once He has spoken His word stands and it cannot be altered, resisted or aborted.

The story of Joseph, David, Moses, Gideon, Jeptha, Cyrus, Jehu and countless others in the Bible proves that. And more often than not it is the most hated, rejected, weakest, unqualified, despised and unlikely that He lifts up and uses to lead, rule and deliver nations and take His people to the promise land.

His ways are not our ways. He sees and knows what we do not see and know and His choices are never wrong. In David we saw an adulterer and a murderer but He saw him as a man after His heart.

In Moses we saw an overzealous, angry, unworthy and pampered son of Pharaoh and killer but He saw a great deliverer. In Gideon we saw a man from the smallest family and most unworthy of all the tribes and clans in Israel but He saw a great man of valour.

The Lord’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not ours. He cannot lie and He does not make mistakes.

In 2015 I wrote an essay in which I said that the hand of God was on Trump and that he would win the nomination as flagbearer for the Republican party. Many said I was wrong and in Nigeria many insulted me (I am used to that). I was proved right when he won.

In 2016 I wrote another essay in which I said that Trump would defeat Clinton in the presidential election. Again many disagreed with me and again many in Nigeria, who had been brainwashed and misinformed by CNN and the fake news media, insulted me. Again I was proved right and he went on to win.

I am stating clearly and categorically now that Trump will win the presidential election and defeat Joe Biden in November after which he will usher in a great era of restoration of prosperity, decency, virtues and good old fashioned Christian values in America.

Many will disagree with me and insult me again but once again I will be proved right because I am being led by the Spirit of God who is a revealer of secrets to those who know Him.

Trump’s ascendancy and great success is a confirmation and fulfillment of the scripture that says “the Lord uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wisdom of the wise”.

Many see Trump as being foolish, rude, brash, ill-tempered, wayward and bullish but God sees and knows him to be compassionate, courageous, loving, God-fearing, forthright and kind. He may not be an angel and he may not even be a true believer but neither was Cyrus.

God uses whom He deems fit to restore and to effect His purpose and it ends there. If you have a problem with His choices then blame Him and not the object of His love or the person He chooses.

In 2008 when Obama entered the ring for the presidential race I wrote an essay in which I said he would win but that he would visit America with great evil. I was proved right.

I wrote another essay in 2012 just before the second election in which again I said the same thing and I wrote that Obama was paving the way for satan’s New World Order. Again I was proved right and he introduced the most ungodly and anti-Christian practices in the history of America and sought to legitimise them in the name of “yes we can”.

In Obama’s world it was commendable and even admirable for men to marry men, for women to marry women and for abortions to take place in their millions.

Worse still he declared America a non-Christian nation, denigrated the Church, mocked the scriptures, desecrated Christian values, changed the name of Christmas to “holy day” and banned Christmas from the White House.

Most appalling of all was the fact that he exported and imposed these demonic values and anti-Christ philosophies to much of the rest of the world.

Trump was God’s ace card in 2016 and he came to clean up Obama’s mess. He has done so for the last four years and He will do so for another four years. This is prophetic and it shall come to pass.

Permit me to end with the following. When the time is right and if our nation remains together the Lord will raise a Trump-like figure for Nigeria too and all things will be made beautiful.

We are a dark nation, with a dark name, with a dark heart and in a dark continent but God has His purpose for us. In the fullness of time, He will raise a great deliverer, a modern-day Jehu, who will bring forth His glorious light, establish justice and change our fortunes. Of this I have no doubt.

Every form of evil and evil governance has an expiry date and we are almost there whether the Nigerian people themselves see it or not.

God’s purpose shall be established in our country, His counsel shall stand, His will shall be done and His name shall be glorified at the appointed time regardless of the evil that presently reigns and that has reigned for the last 60 years.

Till then satan and his agents can rake and rant as much as they like. If America can survive its evil history of racism, callousness, injustice and brutality and be restored so can Nigeria.

If America can survive Obama and the Clinton’s then Nigeria can survive Buhari and 60 years of injustice, incompetence, iniquity and wickedness.

It is prophetic. Insult and condemn the messenger as much as you like but it cannot be resisted.

Finally to Donald Trump I say the following,

“Ignore the insults, despise the shame, scorn the traitors and shun those that have repaid your good with evil. Tear off that mask, come out boldly and face your enemies with strength and courage! Be the lion and warrior that you have always been and fear God alone! Go forth, speak truth, shame your enemies and detractors and conquer. The Presidency is yours in November and so is the leadership of the free world: the Lord wills it! God bless you and God bless America!”

Fani F Kayode

  1. The Nigerian Army is set to start its annual Exercise CROCODILE SMILE which is traditionally conducted in the last quarter of the year. This year’s Exercise CROCODILE SMILE VI is scheduled to commence from the 20th of October to the 31st of December 2020.
  2. The Exercise is deliberately intended to be all encompassing to include cyber warfare exercises designed to identify, track and counter negative propaganda in the social media and across the cyberspace. This is the first ever Cyberwarfare exercise to be conducted in the history of the African Armed Forces. Accordingly, the exercise will also include positive identification component aimed at identifying Boko Haram terrorists fleeing from the North East and other parts of the country as a result of the ongoing operations in the various theatres of operations especially in the Northeast, North Central and North Western parts of Nigeria.
  3. The Nigerian Army, once again, reassures all well meaning Nigerians of its commitment to the sustenance of peace and security in Nigeria and urges members of the public for their support and understanding throughout the period of the exercise.

SAGIR MUS5A
Colonel
Acting Director Army Public Relations

The Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim has reiterated that Nigeria should give preference to skills over paper qualifications for youths to enable them fit into various sectors of the economy.

Pantami who spoke at the official commissioning of five Digital Economy projects in Gombe state, facilitated by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), stressed that Nigeria should focus more in acquiring skills in the digital age, rather than going for only the certificate, according to him, the country should follow the global trend, giving example of many European countries, where certificates are not needed to get jobs.

The minister said that in some regions, people are engaged not because of the school they attended or the impressive degree certificate they obtained, but because of the skills they possessed to work practically.

While commenting on Federal Government’s commitment towards realisation of Digital Economy, Pantami said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been making a giant move to diversify the nation’s economy from natural resources economy to knowledge economy, which is why the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, through its parastatals is building ICT Innovation Parks IT Centres and Capacity Building Centres across the country.

The five Digital Economy projects that were commissioned by the Minister on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari are: NITDA IT Hub, Gombe State Univesity, NITDA Innovation and Incubation Park, Federal University Kashare, ICT Community Centre, Tudun Wada, IT Training Centre, Dukku, and Nigerian Communications Satellite Regional Office, all in the Jewel State.

The Minister said that digital literacy and skills recognised the fact that citizens are the greatest assets in any economy, including the digital economy, adding that ICT Innovation Hubs support the development of a large pool of digitally literate and digitally skilled citizens.

Pantami re-emphasised that the digital economy was a prime catalyst for development, noting that in less than one year, Federal Government’s modest efforts has already yielded remarkable results.

According to him, the first quarter and second quarter of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that ICT contributed an unprecedented 14.07 and 17.83 per cent respectively to Nigeria’s total GDP.

He added that to achieve modest Digital Economy, proper training for teaming Nigerian youths is necessary, and the Ministry provided a platform – www.digitalnigeria.gov.ng – to enable Nigerians receive training in different digital skills.

Earlier in his remarks, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, CCIE that the Innovation and Incubation Hub, Park and IT Centres situated at the prestigious universities and communities are meant for academia, industries, entrepreneurs, risk capitals, startups as well as residents of Gombe State to maintain them in order to harvest and incubate ideas to drive innovation enterprise to support digital economy.

He said the centre is in line with economic diversification of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, as well as National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria, adding that the centres will serve as a platform of providing research especially in capacity building, emerging technologies, robotics and artificial intelligence.

He further urged the management of the universities and other communities where the centres are located to make use of them in bridging the gap between academia, industries and corporate in order to create jobs for our teaming youth.

The Vice Chancellors of the Universities, Professor Aliyu Usman El-Nafaty and Professor Alhassan Mohammed Gani, expressed their profound gratitude to the Federal Government of Nigeria for awarding the project in the institutions, and as well thanked the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), for coming up with the idea when he was Director General of NITDA.

  1. The Nigerian Army (NA) wishes to reassure law abiding citizens that it is highly committed to the sustenance of peace, security and defence of democracy in Nigeria. As a responsible and law abiding organisation, the NA reaffirms its unalloyed loyalty and commitment to the President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari and the Constitution of the Country.
  2. The NA hereby warns all subversive elements and trouble makers to desist from such acts as it remains highly committed to defend the country and her democracy at all cost. The NA is ready to fully support the civil authority in whatever capacity to maintain law and order and deal with any situation decisively. All officers and men are directed never to be distracted by anti democratic forces and agents of disunity.

SAGIR MUSA
Colonel
Acting Director Army Public Relations

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi (CCIE) is of the opinion that ‘’information technology is key to a meaningful reforms in the public service”.

This opinion was expressed when the Director General of Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) Mallam Dasuki Ibrahim Arabi and his management team paid him a courtesy call yesterday at the Agency’s Corporate Headquarters, Abuja.

Mallam Abdullahi while appreciating the visit affirmed that the visit is really timely as reforms in digitization of government services is highly necessary especially with the advent of COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking further, he said being the official government body that develops and regulates information technology in Nigeria, the Agency has begun its reform with its revised vision, mission, core values and rebranding of logo as these are necessary tools needed in the realisation of the organisational mandate.

The NITDA Boss explained that NITDA is a service provider to all MDAs and Nigerian citizens and as such, must change existing mind set, embrace and own the reform.

He noted further the importance of building on the Agency’s mandate and vision as these will help in identifying the need of the people and the kind of training required especially, training in soft skills.

In addition to rebranding, according to the DG, NITDA had also embarked on HR reform by looking at the existing processes and deploying appropriate personnel with the right training and technology on soft skills.

The DG highlighted a number of initiatives that have been put in place to align with the new reform environment of conducting government processes. These are the development of Nigeria Government Enterprise Architecture (NGEA) to show government investment in IT and to guide agencies on how to implement investments, as well as building of 100 repository public institutions.

“The Digital transformation technical working groups (DT-TWGs) is yet another initiative of NITDA established to help MDAs to understand and align what they do in individual Agency with the government priorities and government direction in digital transformation in general,” he noted.

The working groups he further asserted, will help reduce duplication of infrastructures since all MDAs are working for one government. This he said will give the country direction in its budget and investment in general.

He added that, “Another initiative is government interoperability framework which will help different MDAs through standardisation to extend information on projects they are doing to others in a seamless manner and one that ensure efficient deployment of government resources and value for money.”

In his remark, the DG of Bureau of Public Service Reform noted that the agency was established to enhance service delivery and with a mission to facilitate the building of the public service into a highly professional, functional, smart, and focused and results oriented institution.

He asserted that the agency also has the task of coordinating and ensuring full implementation of reform initiatives of other agencies of government, hence the importance of the visit is to acquaint the Bureau of the strides being made by NITDA to ensure reform of its processes.

He stated further thta the visit was also embarked upon to solicit cooperation of NITDA on how it can deploy its IT competences in reforming the entire public service.