Euro 2020: Woman sacked for watching England vs Denmark match By Ademola Aderele

A woman, Nina Farooqi, has been sacked after she was shown on television cheering England on in their 2-1 win over Denmark at the semifinal of the European Championships at Wembley Stadium. Farooqi, according to Daily Mail, had told her boss she was sick and needed a day off work. She called in sick after her friend won last-minute tickets to the match in a work raffle. She was however spotted celebrating England’s first goal. Her colleagues texted her at half-time to inform her that she was shown on television. The 37-year-old digital content producer was sacked at 6am the following day. Her boss called, asking her not to bother returning to work. Farooqi said she was unlikely to be allowed a day off to watch the match due to being short-staffed, prompting her to call in sick. “They said they’d seen I’d been at the game, and I was honest about why I did it. But I didn’t get any sympathy at all and they said that’s it. That’s their call and the consequence of what I did. “There is a bit of regret, no one wants to get fired, but then also I would have hated the regret of missing out. I’d do it all over again,” she told the Daily Telegraph.

Finland-based Nigerian-Finnish Citizen, Simon Ekpa Takes Over From Nnamdi Kanu At Radio Biafra BY SAHARAREPORTERS

The appointment was revealed by Mr Ekpa on his official Facebook page, noting it is honour to serve the Biafra nation and a call to serve lovers of freedom. Simon Ekpa, one of the arrowheads of the agitation for the state of Biafra in Finland has been appointed to take over daily broadcast on Radio Biafra following the detention of the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. The appointment was revealed by Mr Ekpa on his official Facebook page, noting it is honour to serve the Biafra nation and a call to serve lovers of freedom. "Our Leader, Mazi Nnamdi on this day, 8th of July 2021 directed that I, Simon Ekpa should start broadcasting from Radio Biafra with immediate effect. "On this note, it is honour, and at the same time, a call to service, a call to serve Biafra nation, and a call to serve lovers of freedom. "This task, I will do with everything in me to see that we maintain the momentum and the legacy of our leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and IPOB. "I will serve with everything in me and I will double my effort in media, diplomacy, and otherwise to the best interest of Biafra people. "I am just a servant and I will serve. Our leader will continue to lead this struggle from wherever he is. "I am Simon Ekpa, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu's disciple on Biafra restoration." Simon Ekpa LL.M (Master of Laws) is a human rights activist and a legal researcher and advisor. He is a native of Ngbo in the Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State in Southeastern Nigeria. He is said to be a chief and one of those in line to the throne as the son of the late King Nwangbo (The Ogaba Idu of Ngbo clan). Simon has been living in Finland for more than a decade. He is a Finnish citizen and a politician. He was recently elected deputy councillor in his municipality. Radio Biafra stands at the centre of the Biafra agitation struggle since its inception.

Reps to make president, govs lose seats after defection by Leke Baiyewu

The House of Representatives is considering making a president or governor lose their seat if they defect from the political party on whose platform they were elected to another. Presently, the constitution only prescribes such for National Assembly and state House of Assembly members. A member of the Peoples Democratic Party from Taraba State, Rimamnde Kwewum, has now sponsored a bill to extend the condition to the president, vice-president, governor and deputy governor. Since the last general elections in 2019, governors who have changed parties include David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Ben Ayade of Cross River State, and recently Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State. The bill, which is awaiting second reading by the House, seeks to amend sections 144(1) and 189(1) of the 1999 Constitution “to check incidents of defections, that is, cross-carpetings or abandoning the political party that sponsored a president, vice-president, governor or deputy governor, as the case may be, for another political party, in the absence of a merger of political parties, division or factions within the sponsoring political party.” Kwewum, in the legislative brief on the bill, said, “Presently, only legislators in the national and state Houses of Assembly lose their seats if they defect to other political parties. The intention remains the need to improve and deepen democracy by strengthening the political parties. “There is no doubting the fact that all through history, political parties have remained the strongest pillars of democracy. They provide choices for people by professing and working through some governing philosophies, and help to educate people on different patterns of developments being proposed by the different political parties. “Often regarded by political parties which sponsored them as leaders, presidents and governors cannot abandon their political parties and retain the seat that they earned by the sponsoring political parties. “There is, therefore, a need to ensure that political parties retain their hold on the states or governments that they have won. Fact is that under the present constitution, you cannot run for that office without the party.” According to the lawmaker, people vote for parties and that is why party symbols are used on ballot parties. “Winners of elections, by this logic, are simply agents of the political parties,” Kwewum argued. He said it was important, therefore, that once an elected person, the president, vice-president, governor or deputy president abandons the position to which they were elected, “it means they no longer have confidence in the political party and do not share the same ideologies or principles.” “Principled people ought not to be told to vacate such offices,” Kwewum added. PUNCH.

Major police tracking equipment down, detectives struggle to trace bandits, others by Eniola Akinkuotu, Stephen Angbulu, GODFREY GEORGE and PERCY ANI

Key tracking equipment deployed by the police to go after kidnappers, bandits and terrorists has remained inactive since the beginning of the year amid raging violent crimes across the country, Sunday PUNCH has learnt. Multiple reliable sources, who confided in Sunday PUNCH, attributed the downtime to non-subscription and failure to engage the relevant company to carry out system upgrade, among other challenges. At least 2,943 people in Nigeria have been abducted across the country in the last six months since the critical tracking technology was down. Experts have noted that the use of mobile devices by kidnappers to negotiate ransoms makes it possible for law enforcement agencies to determine the movements of the cell phone owners. Even if users have their location services, cellular data and Wi-Fi disabled, tracking system enables law enforcement agencies to have access to the technology that can determine the location of a mobile device at a specified time. Senior police officers, including two commissioners of police who spoke to one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity, said the platforms used in tracking phones had been bad since January. They said in certain cases that were of national interest, the police had to rely on the Office of the National Security Adviser in tracking bandits. One of the commissioners of police, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity, said the equipment was handed over to the police by the Nigerian government a few years ago during the tenure of IGP Solomon Arase and was installed by a Nigerian company. “The equipment was given to us by President Buhari. The thing has not been working because those who are supposed to ensure that it runs well have not played their part. “They claim that they are being owed money for the subscription.” he said. When asked to explain how the subscription works, the CP said the police had not paid the fees since 2015 and the police had had to rely on the DSS. He added, “From what I gathered, subscription fees are meant to be paid yearly but you won’t believe that the police have not paid since 2015. Initially, the company gave us a grace period but they have now cut off the police completely. We now rely solely on DSS and NSA office. It’s a terrible situation and it has worsened the insecurity in the country. The Police Trust Fund promised to help but we have not seen any action yet.” Another police commissioner confirmed the development but said efforts were being made to restore the equipment. The police commissioner added that the platform was undergoing a system upgrade which would soon be completed. He added, “You know this thing is technology just like computer so we do upgrades from time to time. A lot of people on the field don’t even understand how it works. It is undergoing an upgrade because you have new features coming in from time to time. There are new technologies that you have to update to enhance their capacity. “We have some new equipment which we need to adjust so they can link together. Some are still working. It is not as if all components are shut. That is what is happening.” Efforts to speak with the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, proved abortive as he neither responded to calls nor a text message on Friday. Amid the prolonged police tracking system glitches, at least 2, 943 people in Nigeria have been abducted across the country in the last six months even as the police platform used in tracking phones has shut down, making it difficult for the police to track bandits, Sunday PUNCH has learnt. Sunday PUNCH also reports that at least 348 students are still in captivity including the 121 students of Bethel Baptist School, Kaduna. The figure on the abductions is based on data obtained from the Nigeria Security Tracker, a project of the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think tank, and edited by a former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell. Some of the data was also verified by this newspaper through a manual tally of media reports from several newspapers in the last six months The NST tracks violence in Nigeria through data based on weekly surveys of Nigerian and international media and only records cases that have officially been reported. Of all the states that are mostly affected, only the Kaduna State Government has been releasing a quarterly report on abductions and had stated that between January and March alone, 949 persons were kidnapped in the state. Sunday PUNCH observed that of about 3,000 people abducted this year, not less than 800 are students. The figure doesn’t include the 344 schoolchildren of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, and 80 pupils of Islamiyya School, Mahuta, both in Katsina State in December 2020. Some of the notable mass school kidnappings of 2021 include the abduction of 279 schoolgirls of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, Zamfara State on February 26; the kidnapping of 136 pupils of Salihu Tanko Islamiyya School, Tegina, Niger State on May 30; the abduction of 94 students of Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State on June 17 and the latest abduction of 140 pupils of Bethel Baptist School, Kaduna, out of which 19 escaped. About 39 students at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna were kidnapped on March 11 while 23 students of Greenfield University, Kaduna were also taken on April 20. According to the NST, between January and June 2021, the North-West had the highest number of abductions with 1, 405 cases reported. The North-Central witnessed 942 kidnappings while the North-East had 210. The South-South witnessed 140 cases of abductions while the South-West and the South-East recorded 169 and 77 respectively. The local governments with the highest number of abductions were Rafi in Niger State (443), Talata Marafa in Zamfara State (317) and Shiroro in Niger State (225). Maru in Zamfara State recorded 195 abductions while Kajuru in Kaduna State witnessed 145 kidnappings within the period. According to NST, Niger State had the highest number of abductions at 795 followed by Zamfara State which witnessed 523 kidnappings. Kaduna had the third-highest number of abductions at 479 while Katsina recorded 289. Borno and Kebbi states recorded 115 and 103 cases respectively while Oyo had 63. According to the data, the month of June recorded the highest number of abductions at 1, 344 followed by February which had 709 cases. Buhari gives military fresh orders to crush bandits The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Saturday issued fresh orders to the military to crush bandits operating across the nation. This was contained in a statement, titled ‘President Buhari Demanda Crushing Response Against Bandits ,‘ and signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu. In the statement, the President noted that the military and other security agencies were now working on new methods and policies that are yielding good results in many of the troubled parts of the country. The statement read in part, “President Muhammadu Buhari Saturday condemned repeated bandit killings in Zamfara and Kaduna States, urging the nation’s military to respond to the worrying situation in a language that the bandits understand.” Buhari also said the nation, its military and the entire population, needed to summon the courage required to defeat the bandits and terrorists. He further condemned some politicians making utterances on security, advising them to join the ongoing genuine efforts aimed at finding lasting solutions to the challenges confronting the nation. He expressed the nation’s sorrow over the loss of lives, urging security agencies to do everything possible to prevent the recurrence of attacks with impunity. Utomi, Ekhomu, SANs canvass state policing A former presidential candidate and professor of Economics, Pat Utomi; senior advocates of Nigeria, Babatunde Ogala and Tayo Oyetibo, and a renowned security expert, Ona Ekhomu, have said the country needs a more community-based police structure to tackle the security crisis in the country. They spoke against the backdrop of the bill for the creation of state police in the country passing second reading in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, July 6, 2021. The bill which seeks to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow for the creation of state police and legalise regional security outfits, was championed by the member representing Etinan/Nsit-Ibom/Nsit-Ubium Federal Constituency and Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Onofiok Luke. Luke proposed to alter the Constitution to provide for state police and other state government security services to enhance security and preservation of lives and properties in Nigeria. Utomi said community policing was the solution to Nigeria’s security challenges. He said policemen should not live in barracks but within the communities where they are stationed to track down criminals and protect lives and properties, adding that knowledge of the community allows the policeman to see “something unusual and do something”. According to him, policing was local and should not be domiciled at the centre alone as police officers would be more effective when policing is decentralised. Utomi said, “Policing is fundamentally local. Police officers should live within the community. When they do, they will know who the criminals are and who the law-abiding citizens are. When something goes wrong, members of the community will walk up to them and register their concerns. This is what helps their investigation. “I lived in a small town in America, in graduate school, and that university has its police force. The city has its police force, so do the county and the state. All of them operate within the town I lived in, each having its various functions. “The concept of the police as an army of occupation needs to change to make policing more effective. You cannot have this (concept) and say, ‘Police is your friend!’ No. Police are your occupiers. You are terrorised by them. But when the police officers are in the community, they become your friends. Everyone will be free to tell them what they saw during a crime and not be afraid of being harassed. That is what policing is about.” On his part, a security expert, Ona Ekhomu, in his reaction, said the bill was a welcome development as the current security structure was not adequate to cater to the security challenges of the country and could not provide proper protection for lives and properties in the country. Ekhomu said, “People are being slaughtered all over the country by non-state actors in a way that appears almost impossible to defend. This bill is long overdue and required. “What the legislature has done with the passing of the bill is to show that they are an equal member and participant in this administration. By taking the initiative to pass this bill now, seeing as they have in times past ceded all initiative to the executive in terms of actions that will better the lives of Nigerians and resigned themselves to playing second fiddle, they have shown they now understand the amount of power they wield. Also, they now realise how to use this power to better the plight of Nigerians affected by killer herdsmen and bandits as they have stepped up to their duties.” He stated further that the bill is the first step in the long route to progress in the security department of the country. “Nigeria is still a long way from where it should rightly be security-wise, but the bill that allows the creation of state police is the first step in the right direction. Also commenting on the issue, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, maintained that Nigeria could not have a centrally-controlled police force if it wanted to be efficient. He said, “I made a presentation to the National Assembly some years back on this issue. You cannot sit in Abuja and police the remotest part of Nigeria. You need the police that would be on the ground and one who has the intelligence from the people to be able to do so.” “While the Federal police is maintained, the need for state police is necessary. Nigeria is a big nation in terms of landmass and population, so to be able to police the people, we need police that would have their ears to the ground. It is quite obvious that a centrally controlled police cannot successfully achieve this in Nigeria”. Also, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, said he subscribes to community or state policing, because with it in place, it would be easier to curb most crimes committed in various communities within the country. Ogala added, “Tracking criminals would be much easier as the police officers are part of society and know the people. It would also help to boost the morale of the police officers as fighting crime would be made much easier.” PUNCH.

Flight delays: Airlines list conditions for 100% airfare refund to passengers by Kayode Oyero

Following the pronouncement of the Federal Government that airline operators must refund the full cost of travel tickets to passengers after a two-hour delay, commercial airlines have listed the conditions for such reimbursement. The airline operators made this known in separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH. The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had, on Thursday at the weekly State House Briefing in Aso Villa, Abuja, read out some of the rights of air passengers as enshrined in Part 19 of the Consumer Protection Regulations of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (2015) and charged them to demand their rights whenever they were being trampled upon by airlines. “On domestic flights, for delay beyond one hour, carrier should provide refreshment, and one telephone call, or one SMS, or one e-mail. They should send you an SMS or email or call you to say, ‘I am sorry, I am delaying for one hour’. “For delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier shall reimburse passengers the full volume of their tickets. “For delay between 10pm and 4am, carrier shall provide hotel accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, SMS, email and transport to-and-fro airport,” Sirika had said, adding that the same rules applied for international flights. The minister, who said his ministry had started sanctioning some airlines who defaulted on consumer rights, however, urged passengers not to be unruly at airports. In recent times, air transportation has become the darling of travellers in Nigeria, no thanks to the rising cases of robbery attacks, kidnappings and killings on highways across the country. According to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, there are over 20 airports spread across Nigeria, with at least three airports in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country, making almost every part of the country accessible by air. But as the aviation sector enjoys patronage, flight cancellations and delays have characterised inter-city air transportation in the country. According to recent statistics obtained by Sunday PUNCH from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, there are 19 international airlines and nine local carriers currently operating within the country. The local airlines include Azman Air, Overland Airways, Max Air, Ibom Air, Air Peace, Aero Contractors, Dana Air, Arik Air and United Nigeria Airlines. The NCAA data showed that 1,871 international flights have been recorded within the country’s airspace from January to March 2021 but 562 of those flights were delayed while nine were cancelled. The regulator’s data also showed that 14,662 local flights were recorded in Nigeria between January and March 2021. However, 7,554 of those flights were delayed while 149 were cancelled. Operators of airlines in the country had justified the delay and cancellations of domestic flights recently. The operators, led by the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, had, on Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Aviation chaired by Senator Smart Adeyemi, hinged the reason on non-availability and rising cost of aviation fuel, also known as JetA1 and inadequate parking spaces at airports. Other reasons cited by the operators were non-availability of forex for spare parts and maintenance, sudden change of weather, delay due to VIP movement, inefficient passenger access and facilitation, delayed clearance of spare parts from Customs and inadequate screening and exit points at departure. Efforts to get the Air Peace Chairman’s comment on the recent statement of the minister proved abortive as he neither took our correspondent’s calls nor responded to text messages sent to his line as of the time of filing this report. However, speaking with Sunday PUNCH, Air Peace’s spokesman, Stanley Olisa, said the airline does refund passengers whenever there is flight cancellation due to weather or technical glitches. Responding to a question by our correspondent, he said, “Yes, we refund our customers based on the terms and conditions of our tickets. Refund can be voluntary, where the customer is refunded 75 per cent of the fare and this occurs when they no longer wish to fly on the service paid for. It is involuntary when we cancel the flight and the passenger is refunded the full fare. The refund process takes three to four weeks.” The spokesman for Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa, said what the minister read at the presidential briefing was not new but that airlines would rather delay or cancel flights and ensure the safety of their passengers than fly when it is technically unsafe to do so. He said, “What he said is not new, it has been in existence in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations 2015. We refund when passengers request for refund, we provide accommodation when flight is cancelled in the night. We transport passengers from the airports to the hotel and bring them back in the morning. We also compensate where necessary after providing all these things. “Flight delay is a peculiarity of the industry and these issues come up once in a while. No airline can say it has not had one or two hours delay due to bad weather, technical issues, documentation and other factors. “No airline will delay deliberately but when it has to do with safety and best standard practices, we will rather do the right thing and take the bashing. We need to ensure the safety of our passengers at all times. “It is quite understandable when passengers are angry because they have paid. It is understandable because they have commitments and appointments but there are times when we just have to do the right thing and these may cause delay in take-off.” Ezenwa agreed with the minister that when there were issues that necessitated flight cancellations and or delay beyond scheduled time, timely communication and engagement with the passengers could make the difference. Also speaking with Sunday PUNCH, an official of Aero Contractors who did not want to be named said the airline had been complying with the regulations of the Federal Government. “I can tell you that Aero is going to comply with the standard procedure based on regulatory and government policies and based on the new comment the minister made yesterday (Thursday). When there is AOG (aircraft on ground) due to technical faults, we cancel the flight. When there is weather issue, we cancel the flight. Passengers are either refunded or if they are willing, they can reschedule to fly again without any penalty or additional cost. That has been the normal procedure,” he said. When asked of the conditions for refund, he said, “It depends on the circumstances. If they pay cash, they will get cash; if it is PoS, their funds will be transferred to them.” The official, however, did not give the duration of refund which he said “it is not cast in iron”. When contacted, Arik Air’s Public Relations and Communications Manager, Banji Ola, kept mum on the matter. “I don’t have any comment to make,” he told our correspondent over the phone. Also, one of the new entrants into the space, United Nigeria Airlines, told our correspondent that the operator would make its position known soon. “The company will make its official position known. There are different issues between regulatory authorities and ministerial pronouncements,” spokesman for the airline, Achielieus Uchegbu, told Sunday PUNCH. Efforts to get the Chief Executive Officer of Azman Air, Yunusa Sarina, proved abortive as of the time of filing this report as he did not take calls put across to his line by our correspondent. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency in its weather forecast outlook on Friday, said thunderstorms were expected over parts of Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe and Borno States while other parts of the northern region would be under cloudy skies. PUNCH.

Sound Sultan dies at 44 By Samuel Oamen

Popular rapper Lanre Fasasi aka Sound Sultan is dead. The family of the 44-year-old ‘Jagbajantis’ crooner confirmed his death on Sunday in a statement. Read Also: 12 memorable facts about Sound Sultan Below is a statement from late Sound Sultan’s brother Dr Kayode Fasasi “IT IS WITH HEAVY HEARTS THAT WE ANNOUNCE THE PASSING OF MULTITALENTED VETERAN SINGER, RAPPER. SONGWRITER OLANREWAJU FASASI A.K.A SOUNDSULTAN HE PASSED AWAY AT THE AGE OF 44 FOLLOWING A HARD FOUGHT BATTLE WITH ANGIOIMMUNOBLASTIC T-CELL LYMPHOMA. HE IS SURVIVED BY HIS WIFE, THREE CHILDREN AND HIS SIBLINGS. WE HIS FAMILY WILL APPRECIATE THE UTMOST PRIVACY AS WE COME TO GRIPS WITH THIS TRAGIC LOSS.”

Remain positive about the nation, ex-Head of State Gowon begs Nigerians

Former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, says he is optimistic that the Peace Corps of Nigeria Bill currently before the National Assembly will be passed by the lawmakers. He also expressed optimism that the President, Major General Muhammad Buhari (retd) would sign the passed bill into law. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Gowon spoke on Saturday at a ceremony to mark the 23rd anniversary of PCN. The retired Army General served as the chairman of the occasion held in Abuja. Represented by retired Maj. Gen. Chris Garba, Gowon said that volunteer activities of the corps needed to be further supported by way of legislation to offer the outfit the legal instrument crucial to enhancing its operations. He urged Nigerians to remain positive about the nation, declaring that the current state of insecurity and instability was “only a passing phase that will not be with us forever.” He also urged citizens to pray and support the government in the fight against insecurity, incessant attacks and kidnapping. “The seventh, eighth and ninth assembly have made several inputs and enhancement on the bill. “The ninth assembly will do further justice to pass the bill; I am very optimistic that President Muhammadu Buhari will assent to it,” Gowon said. Earlier, the National Commandant of PCN, Prof. Dickson Akoh, had said that July 10 of every year was very significant to the PCN calendar, being its founders day and his (Akoh’s) birthday. “This is a unique opportunity for stocktaking and Thanksgiving to God for divine sustenance and also project the way forward for the organisation,” he declared. According to him, the PCN was birthed in 1998 as a tiny ember of his imagination with only few individuals. “It has now blossomed into a colossus with over 187,000 youths comprising of regular members and volunteers, mostly graduates of different disciplines.” The national commandant urged the Federal Government to take urgent steps to create job opportunities for unemployed youths in order to keep them busy. He called on the youths to stay away from all forms of violence and endless agitations. Several government dignitaries, politicians, youth organisations and traditional rulers attended the occasion. Among the traditional rulers was Adamu Inusa, Ona of Abaji and Chairman, Council of Traditional Rulers in the Federal Capital Territory. (NAN)