Newspaper review: UN demands release of 110 Dapchi schoolgirls
The main headlines of the mainstream Nigerian newspapers for Thursday, March 1, are focused on the abduction of 110 secondary school girls from Yobe state and and the attempts by government and security agencies to rescue them.
Vanguard reports that the attack on Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe state, by Boko Haram penultimate Monday, has begun taking its toll on education in the area, as some of the students who managed to escape abduction by the insurgents have said they would not return to school.
One of the students who escaped the abduction, Mariam Mohammed Miko, 15, said though she hoped to be a health technologist to be able to help her community, she was no longer returning to school.
The Nation reports that the United Nations (UN) yesterday demanded that the abductors of the 110 schoolgirls from Dapchi, Yobe state should release them immediately.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he “very much hopes that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, and just as importantly, that the girls will be found and returned to safety”.
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The Punch reports that the minister of interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, has directed the inspector-general of police, Ibrahim Idris; and the commandant-general of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Abdullahi Muhammadu, to relocate to the northeast.
The presidency disclosed this on Wednesday in a series of messages posted on its Twitter handle, @NGRPresident.
According to the message, the two security chiefs were asked to liaise with the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole as well as governors of the affected states to ensure deployment of personnel to all schools in the liberated areas in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states.
The Guardian reports that according to a new bill by the Senate, any person found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person shall die by hanging upon conviction.
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The bill, which reflects the growing concern over the spate of violence in the nation, was sponsored by the spokesman of the upper chamber, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger).
It also seeks the establishment of an ‘Independent National Commission for Hate Speeches’, which shall enforce hate speech laws across the country, ensure the elimination of the menace and advise the federal government. For offences such as harassment on the grounds of ethnicity or racial contempt, a culprit shall be sentenced to “not less than a five-year jail term or a fine of not less than N10 million or both.”
This Day Newspaper reports that as the air of uncertainty continues to pervade the declaration of tenure extension for the elected and appointed officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at all levels, the national chairman of the ruling party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has said the party was not expecting everyone to tag along with the National Executive Committee (NEC), saying people were entitled to support any cause they believed in.
During the meeting of the NEC of the APC on Tuesday, its members had, without an amendment of the party’s constitution, voted in favour of the tenure elongation by 12 months for all the executives of the party at all levels.
Nigerians react as Boko Haram terrorists kidnap over 100 girls in Dapchi, Yobe on Legit.ng TV
Source: Legit.ng
