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Zamfara: Produce Matawalle’s hand over notes or face the law – Shinkafi cautions Gov Dauda
Ex- governorship aspirant in Zamfara State, Sani Abdullahi Shinkafi, has demanded that the Dauda Lawal administration publishes without delay former Governor Bello Matawalle’s handing over note and transition committee report referencing gold purchase from 2020 to 2023.
Shinkafi said that in the event of failure to publish the said documents in national newspapers within 14 days, he will be left with no option than to go to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, NFIU, and the National Security Adviser, NSA.
According to him, citizens must hold elected public office holders at all levels accountable, insisting that sovereignty resides in the people.
In a statement on Thursday, Shinkafi said, “It is curious that three years after Bello Matawalle left office as governor of Zamfara State nothing has been heard of his administration’s well publicised Gold Reserve Initiative which he proudly presented to then President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa Abuja on 24th October 2020 with 31 kilograms of gold and precious stones he said Zamfara government procured to boost the financial base of the state.
“He told Buhari that the state had received offers from prospective buyers to supply them gold bars stating that the gold was mined and refined by local miners and concerned that few persons mined gold in Zamfara State and sell it abroad, that his government engaged the miners to block the chain of supply and avoid it entering into wrong hands due to security issue in the state.
“Buhari commended the initiative and said it was the first time Zamfara gold was presented to him since he became president.
“After Matawalle’s meeting with President Buhari he addressed the State House correspondents where he alleged that some foreigners exchange arms for gold and stones in the state which he implored the Federal Government to investigate.
“Zamfara State is blessed with solid mineral deposits in commercial quantity.
It has become come necessary to ascertain the quantity of gold the Matawalle government purchased with public funds meant for projects and payment of salaries and wages.
“The current value of the 31 kilograms of gold Matawalle presented to Buhari is estimated at five billion nine hundred and fifty two billion naira.
“In October 2020, then Governor Bello Matawalle addressed a world press conference stating that the government had saved funds through the establishment of the Zamfara State Gold Reserve Initiative for the benefit of the people.
“It is on record that in April 2019, after its Federal Executive Council meeting, the Federal Government suspended all exploration and mining activities in Zamfara State due to widespread insecurity there. The office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno made a public statement on behalf of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency suspending mining activities in Zamfara State which was lifted in 2025, after six years.
“In view of the Federal Government’s suspension of solid minerals mining from 2019 to 2025, who approved then Governor Bello Matawalle government’s engagement in gold trade which he claimed he bought from local miners.
“We call on the current Zamfara State Government to publicly publish the handover note and transition committee report where gold purchased by Matawalle’s administration were stated and where the Zamfara State Gold Reserve Initiative is kept.
“Take notice that failure to publish the said documents within 14 days, we will be left with no option than to report same to the EFCC, ICPC, NFIU and NSA to thoroughly investigate the legality or otherwise of the Bello Matawalle government’s engagement in solid minerals at the time the Federal Government had suspended mining activities in Zamfara State to combat armed banditry there.”
Japa on reverse lane as the United States Department of Homeland Security, DHS, has updated its list of Nigerians facing removal from the country, reducing the number to 112 and publishing their names and photographs online.
The latest list features Nigerians from different parts of the country and was published through the DHS official website.
Among those listed are Cletus Onyali, Olaolu Alabi, Marcus Unigwe, Mkpouto Etukudoh, Blessing Uchanma, Olaniyi Ojikutu, Richard Ugbah, Oluwamuyiwa Olawoye, Anthony Asanya and Ebele Agbasiele
Others identified on the list include Izuchukwu Okoye, Olufemi Olufisayo Olutiola, Abiemwense Obanor, Chibuzo Nwaonu, Oluchi Jennifer Chimdimma Chime, Ifeanyi Okoro, Oluwaseun Kassim, Quazeem Adeyinka and Talatu Dada.
The complete list contains 112 names, with the photographs and details of the other individuals available through the DHS online portal.
The publication comes amid stepped-up immigration enforcement by the US government, particularly involving undocumented immigrants and individuals with outstanding removal orders.
It also comes against the backdrop of efforts by US authorities to obtain increased cooperation from foreign governments in receiving their nationals who have been ordered to leave the United States.
Nigeria has previously faced pressure from the US over the repatriation of its nationals subject to deportation.
The updated publication provides public access to the identities and photographs of the Nigerians currently identified by DHS for removal from the United States.
The Department of State Services, DSS, on Thursday re-arraigned five men accused of complicity in the May 15 kidnap of pupils and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State and the subsequent killing of two of the victims.
They were arraigned on a seven-count amended charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/438/2026, filed by the DSS on behalf of the Federal Government.
The defendants, accused of being members of the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina fi-Biladis Sudan (ANSARU) terrorist group, are Mahmud Muhammad (aka Abu Bara’a, Abbas Mukhtar); Abubakar Abbas (aka Isah Adam, Mallam Mahmuda Al-Nigeri); Abdulrazak Umar (aka Abu Khalifa/Abu Khalid); Yunusa Musa (aka Abu Yunusa Bin Musa); and Shamsu Adamu Sani (aka Abu Itisar).
All five defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to them by the Registrar of the court.
The Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation (DPPF), Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who led the DSS legal team, applied for the immediate trial of the defendants in line with the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
He also applied for the names of witnesses lined up to testify in the trial to be shielded and for them to be permitted to wear masks to ensure their protection.
Following no objection from counsel to the defendants, Bala Dakum, Justice Salim Ibrahim granted the request of the DSS counsel.
At the time of filing this report, arrangements for the full-scale trial were being put in place.
LAGOS — A post-mortem examination conducted by the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has confirmed that 20-year-old journalist Pelumi Onifade died from a penetrating firearm injury to the abdomen.
The finding is contained in a six-page autopsy report dated July 30, 2026, and submitted to the Lagos State Coroner’s Court investigating the circumstances surrounding the young journalist’s death during the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
According to the report, Onifade died from massive haemoperitoneum, a severe accumulation of blood in the abdominal cavity, caused by a high-velocity projectile that penetrated his abdomen.
The forensic finding provides medical evidence establishing a gunshot injury as the cause of death, while the circumstances surrounding who fired the shot and the events that followed remain matters before the coroner’s proceedings.
How Onifade Died
Onifade was a 200-level History student of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) and worked as an intern reporter with Gboah TV, a Lagos-based online news platform.
On October 24, 2020, during the nationwide #EndSARS protests against police brutality, he was assigned to cover an attempted looting at a government palliative storage facility in the Abattoir area of Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos.
According to accounts presented by his family and colleagues, Onifade was wearing a press jacket and carrying reporting equipment when officers attached to the Lagos State Task Force opened fire while attempting to disperse the crowd.
He was reportedly struck by a bullet and subsequently taken away in a police van, commonly referred to as a Black Maria.
A colleague who was with him at the scene reportedly attempted to identify him as a journalist and explain that he was carrying camera equipment, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
Onifade was not seen alive again after that incident.
Family Searched Police Stations, Hospitals
Following his disappearance, his family and colleagues searched police stations, detention facilities and hospitals across Lagos in an attempt to establish his whereabouts.
According to the family, police authorities denied having him in custody.
Six days later, on October 30, 2020, the family located his body at the mortuary of Ikorodu General Hospital, where it had been registered as a “brought-in-dead” case under body number 1385.
The discovery triggered years of demands for an independent investigation into how the young journalist died and how his remains ended up in the mortuary.
DNA Test Identified the Body
The identity of the body was subsequently confirmed through forensic DNA testing.
Results from the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre established a match between the unidentified body bearing tag number 1385 and reference samples obtained from Onifade’s parents.
The DNA confirmation provided a crucial breakthrough after years of uncertainty surrounding the whereabouts and identity of the missing journalist.
Court Ordered Coroner’s Inquest
The search for accountability later moved into the courts.
In July 2024, Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the Lagos State Government and the police to conduct a coroner’s inquest into Onifade’s death.
The objective of the inquest is to establish the circumstances surrounding his death and determine the facts surrounding the actions of the security personnel involved.
The ongoing proceedings before the Lagos State Coroner’s Court are being presided over by Magistrate Temitope Oladele.
Following the submission of the post-mortem report, the court has directed key witnesses, including police personnel who were on duty in the Oko-Oba area on October 24, 2020, to appear and testify.
Rights Groups Demand Accountability
Media Rights Agenda (MRA), which has supported the Onifade family in its legal efforts, has described the post-mortem findings as significant evidence in the case.
Rights activists, journalist unions, and the deceased’s family continue to demand the public prosecution of the police officers who fired the shot and those who supervised the deployment during the Lagos #EndSARS demonstrations.
Japa on reverse lane as US releases names, photos of 112 Nigerians on deportation list
Oyo kidnap: Five defendants plead not guilty to seven count charges
Autopsy Confirms #EndSARS Journalist Pelumi Onifade Died From Gunshot Wound
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