Daily Watch – #EndSARS victims bill scales second reading, Ghana’s NPP begin nominations

The two remaining girls abducted from Federal Government College (FGC), Birnin Yauri, Kebbi have been released after 707 days in captivity. The girls, Faida Sani Kaoje and Safiya Idris, were released, following intensive negotiations by a committee set up by families and well-wishers to dialogue with the bandits. According to reporting by The Guardian learnt that a notorious bandit kingpin, Dogo Gide, had insisted the Kebbi state government meet some conditions before the girls could be released. Parents and other concerned persons had raised money and paid a ransom for the girls’ freedom. In other security news, a clergyman and two other persons have been allegedly killed by Fulani militia in Mangu Local Council of Plateau. The clergyman, who resided at Npat village, in Kombun District, was shot in his compound. Also, two youths: Elisha Dalyop and Abednego Davou, were killed while one Patrick Joshua sustained serious injuries and is said to be receiving treatment at the Christian Hospital in Vom.

The Nigerian Senate has passed for second reading a bill for an Act to amend the National Emergency Management Act to establish the #EndSARS Compensation Fund for the victims of the October 2020 protests. The bill which is titled: “A Bill for an Act to amend the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Act,” sponsored by Gershom Bassey (PDP, Cross-River), was first read on the floor of the Senate on 16 May. Bassey, in an interview with newsmen, affirmed that the establishment of the fund and implementation of the recommendation of the judicial panel of inquiry and Senate joint committee on #EndSARS would bring succour to the victims. Senate President Ahmad Lawan referred the bill to a committee on special duties for further legislative input and report back to the plenary in one week.

Ghana’s ruling party—the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has opened nominations for the election of its presidential candidate for the 2024 general elections. The party indicated that aspiring presidential candidates can pick up nomination forms from Friday, 26 May 2023. Nominations will be open for nearly a month and close on 24 June. Special Electoral College Elections (if any) have been scheduled for 26 August. The party says when nomination closes, the national congress will be held on 4 November agreed during its National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Council meetings.

The United States imposed sanctions on the head of the Wagner Group in Mali, accusing the Russian private army of trying to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, and of working through Mali and other countries. The US Treasury Department in a statement also accused Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslov, who it described as the head of Wagner paramilitary units, and its principal administrator based in Mali of working in close coordination with Malian government officials to execute the group’s deployment in Mali. The move comes after State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday said there were indications that Wagner has been attempting to purchase military systems from foreign suppliers and route those weapons through Mali.