At least 17 members of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) drowned while attempting to cross a river along the Nigeria-Niger Republic border.

According to a counter-insurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, the incident occurred between the Kafetoa and Bulabulin Gaidam communities in Yobe State, Nigeria.

The insurgents were reportedly en route to Tam village in Niger Republic, near the Kannamma settlement in Yobe, when they were caught by strong water currents and swept away.

Boko Haram kills many, burn shops, houses in attack on Yobe village
Makama stated that the fighters had been displaced from key bases, including Bulabulin Geidam, Chettimari, and Diffan, all along the Nigeria-Niger border regions.

ISWAP has been involved in insurgency activities across Nigeria’s northeastern region and has come under increasing pressure from Nigerian military operations in recent months.

Human rights activist and convener of #RevolutionNow Movement, Omoyele Sowore, has reaffirmed the scheduled second phase of the nationwide protests against acute hunger, poverty and bad governance under President Bola Tinubu’s administration tagged #FearlessInOctober.

Sowore, a former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) party, said the protests should not be regarded as only meant for Generation Z (Gen Z), but for all ages.

Generation Z refers to people born between 1996 and 2010. They are also known as Zoomers. They are the second-youngest generation, between millennials and Generation Alpha.

According to Sowore, the movement is championed by Nigerians of all ages who are fed up with bad governance in Nigeria, and in extension, Africa, noting that their flag will be “A New Pan-Africanism”.

He stressed that only if Africans unite will they be able to earn a place in global prosperity, hence, Nigerians need to rise against bad governance on October 1 when the country marks its Independence Day.

He said, “But don’t call it a Generation Z protest, rather from A to Z. The movement is animated by Nigerians of all ages, who are fed up with bad governance.

“Only if Africans unite will they be able to earn a place in global prosperity.”

He said the protests will be in October because “it’s a significant month for a number of reasons”.

He said, “There’s the anniversary of “their” independence, which Nigerians have not yet truly won, and also that of #EndSARS, the movement that denounces the abuses and blackmail against defenseless citizens committed by the police of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad at dawn on October 20, 2020.

“After days of marches, soldiers shot at participants in a sit-in in Lagos to enforce a curfew order. According to a local commission of inquiry, there were at least 48 victims: young people who denounced bad governance.”

The first phase of the protests took place nationwide from August 1-10, during and following which Nigerian authorities arrested several people for their alleged roles in the demonstrations.

The authorities have held several protesters in prison and charged them with treason.

However, Sowore has continued to encourage Nigerians, especially the youths not to surrender to the government’s brutality and hostility meant to silence and keep them in perpetual bondage.

A coalition of civil society organisations under the platform of coalition of Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness, CCLCA, Public Interest Lawyers League, PILL others on Sunday threw their weight behind the verdict that dismissed a suit seeking to compel INEC to conduct fresh elections in Rivers for the 27 lawmakers.

Recall the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja on Friday, dismissed a defection suit instituted against the 27 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.

The suit seeking to replace the 27 lawmakers on account of their purported defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) was dismissed.

Justice Peter Lifu who delivered the judgment held that the suit instituted by the Action People’s Party APP was statute barred having not been filed within 14 days allowed by law.

The ruling is a watershed in the country’s jurisprudence and a vindication of the erstwhile Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike who had been vilified by some uninformed Nigerians since the defection saga began last year. It is also a huge plus for the 27 lawmakers who were duly elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly to represent their various constituencies.

In a statement on Sunday, by Director General of CCLCA, Dr Gabriel Nwambu on behalf of other NGOs, they noted that:

“We, members of the Coalition, Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness, Public Interest Lawyers League, PIL and others are fully aware that the judgement may not have gone down well with the enemies of Rivers State, particularly those who want to destroy the legacies of Wike, but we must commend the learned judge for upholding the tenets of the law and justice instead of relying on sentiments and half truth.

“By this judgement, the Nigerian Judiciary has once again discharged and acquitted itself from the charge of bias and miscarriage of justice. In this light, we urge Governor Siminalayi Fubara to heed the advice of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to allow the 27 lawmakers to return to their seats at the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“In the spirit of love, peace and justice, ,Governor Fubara should set the process in motion for a reconciliation of the feuding parties in the state legislature. Of course that will pave way for the full implementation of the peace agreement he signed when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu mediated in the conflict in Aso Rock, Abuja.

“The Coalition is hopeful that Fubara will take this judgement as an opportunity to pull Rivers State back from the brinks. We urge him to shun all sentiments, and accept the reality that the Rivers State are one indivisible unit whose collective will cannot be broken by the ambition of one man.

“It is high time, Governor Fubara realises those stoking the embers of disunity and those who want him to bite the finger that fed him are the real enemies of Rivers State.