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Int’l Holocaust Day: Israel Calls for Education to Ward Off Another Reoccurrence

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Int’l Holocaust Day: Israel Calls for Education to Ward Off Another Reoccurrence

By: Michael Mike

The Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman has underscored the need for adequate investment in education to address the dangers of hate speech and hatred, and to ward off any reoccurrence of Holocaust.

Freeman, who is also the Permanent Representative of Israel to ECOWAS, while speaking at a commemoration of International Holocaust Day in Abuja on Friday, said the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023 was the same as the Holocaust, both a child of anti-Semitic hate.

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 that established the Holocaust and UN Outreach Programme, also designated January 27, as annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of victims of the Holocaust.

Freeman said: “79 years ago, millions of Jews were murdered. Holocaust began with words, hate speech, singing out and dehumanising of Jewish people; which many people looked the other way.

“After the world stood by as millions of people were murdered, we suddenly declared `Never Again’ Holocaust denial took 30-years before it became widespread phenomenon today.

“Education is critical if we have to reverse the trend: when it happened 6-million Jews were murdered, when we talk about the number, we talk about population of cities.

“Yet, it still remains an unimaginable number, the only way to understand the dangers of Holocaust are from expression by individuals.”

He noted that the hatred that gave birth to Holocaust over 75 years ago was still much around today, insisting that education is the only cure.

UN Resident Coordinator who was represented by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative, Dr Walter Mulombo, reading the message of the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres said there is need for a collective efforts to end all forms of Holocaust.

He said: “Today, we pause to mourn the six million Jewish children, women, and men systematically murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators.

“We recognised the horrific resonance this day of commemoration finds in our own times, the antisemitic hate that fuelled the Holocaust.

“We did not start with the Nazis, nor did it end with their defeat.’’

According to him, today, we are witnessing hate spreading at alarming speed online, it has moved from margins to the mainstream.

He added that we must remember that disdain for diversity is danger to everyone, as no society is immune to intolerance and bigotry against one group is bigotry against all.

The British High Commissioner, Dr Richard Montgomery, represented by Cynthia Rowe, Development Director, FCDO, of British High Commission in Nigeria said: “UK government is committed to creating education and research about the Holocaust.

“We are building new Holocaust-memorial in London expected to be completed in 2027; UK will take on the precedence on International Day in remembrance of the victims of Holocaust in March, 2024.

The “theme of our precedence is in plain sight drawing attention that Holocaust did not happen in dark corner”.

The mission envoy explained that such would highlight suicidal practice, which allowed mass murder to have taken place on large scale.

“It is our collective responsibility to remember the horrors of the Holocaust and renew our vows that `Never again,” the envoy said.

Int’l Holocaust Day: Israel Calls for Education to Ward Off Another Reoccurrence

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Borno belong to APC, Zulum affirms party supremacy, says we are for Tinubu

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Borno belong to APC, Zulum affirms party supremacy, says we are for Tinubu

By: Our Reporter

Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has stated that the state is an undisputed stronghold of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and remains loyal to the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The governor made the assertion on Monday during flag-off of the APC Northeast e-registration workshop in Maiduguri.

The occasion, which brought together national party leadership, state executives, local government chairmen, and members of the national and state assemblies, was convened to ensure the party’s membership e-registration exercise as part of the digital reform process.

Governor Zulum, addressing the gathering, said, “I want to assure you that the Government of Borno State under my leadership will provide the desired support to ensure the success of the APC membership e-registration exercise in the north east.”

“Our party members in other states governed by other political parties will be supported to get captured.”

Zulum further stated, “Let there be no doubt in anyone’s mind, Borno State is 100% for the APC. Our loyalty to the party and its leadership is absolute,” Governor Zulum declared.

“Let us be frank and remember our recent history. Before the APC came to power, Borno State was on its knees. Our local governments were under siege, our economy was shattered, and our people were living in fear.”

“But look at where we are today. The narrative is shifting, and this shift is due to the relentless efforts and massive support from the APC-led federal government.”

“From the late President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, we received unprecedented support in our fight against terrorism. We witnessed the establishment of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), which has played a crucial role in rebuilding our communities and infrastructure.”

“Now, under our leader, President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, this support has not wavered; it has been strengthened. The President has shown a deep commitment to the final restoration of peace in Borno and the entire North-East. The Federal Government is actively collaborating with our administration to ensure the safe resettlement of our people and the rebuilding of their livelihoods.”

“The evidence is clear for all to see. The APC government at the federal level has been a true partner in our journey from the storm to normalcy. For the first time, our son became the Vice President of Nigeria under the APC.”

“I wish to reiterate my call to the good people of Borno State to join me in supporting the re-election of President Tinubu in the 2027 General Elections. Let us begin to build that momentum now. Let us work together to ensure his visionary leadership continues to guide our nation forward,” Zulum said.

Borno belong to APC, Zulum affirms party supremacy, says we are for Tinubu

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Newly coronated Hausa monarch of Makurdi dies after brief illness

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Newly coronated Hausa monarch of Makurdi dies after brief illness

By: Zagazola Makama

The newly coronated Hausa Monarch of Makurdi, His Royal Highness Alhaji Rayanu Sangami, has died after a brief illness.

According to the sources, Alhaji Sangami died on Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Kaduna State.

His remains were conveyed to Makurdi the same day and buried at about 11:20 a.m. according to Islamic rites.

The late monarch was coronated as the Sarkin Hausawa of Makurdi on Sept. 20, 2025.

Newly coronated Hausa monarch of Makurdi dies after brief illness

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MOTION Condemns Demolition of Homes in Oworonsoki

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MOTION Condemns Demolition of Homes in Oworonsoki

…Says Action, Genocide Against the Poor

By: Michael Mike

The Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOT!ON) has condemned in the strongest possible terms the alleged ongoing state-sponsored brutality and unlawful demolition of homes in Oworonsoki, Lagos.

The organisation, in a statement on Monday signed by Hauwa Mustapha and Chris Isiguzo, Convener and Co-Convener respectively, said reports confirmed that in the early hours of Sunday, armed policemen and hired thugs invaded the community, teargassed residents, and destroyed homes in defiance of a subsisting court injunction, adding that this brazen contempt for the rule of law, and disregard for human life and dignity, marks yet another dark chapter in the Lagos State Government’s deliberate war against the poor.

The statement read: “This is more disheartening against the fact that the world bank in October 2025 declared Nigeria to be home to 139 million people living in extreme poverty in its report.

One would have thought that the Nigerian government are collectively working hard to lift people out of poverty, unfortunately, the Lagos state government has allowed private interest to override public interest in complete defiance to an existing court order.”

It reminded that: “Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nation Convention on Human Rights. According to United Nation’s definition, forced evictions is the permanent or temporary removal against their will of individuals, families and/or communities from the homes and/or land which they occupy, without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protection.

“And article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that the States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.

“At the time of this press statement, over 7,000 housing units have already been lost in the Oworonsoki community- a home to the middle class and poorest office poor in Lagos state, with families, pregnant women, children, and the elderly rendered homeless overnight. This is the height of abuse of human rights, cruel treatment of the poor and brazen disregard for the rule of law.

“We want to state clearly that it is irresponsible for the Lagos State government to discard these structures as “illegal structures.” These are people’s lives, built over decades of labour, community, and love. To tear them down without dialogue, compensation, or relocation is not urban development. The Lagos State government is carrying out a social cleansing and a genocide against poor people.

“The government’s actions violate not only the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which makes the welfare of the citizens, including their housing welfare, the responsibility of the government, but also violate the basic principles of humanity and justice. When the state becomes the destroyer of homes rather than their protector, it ceases to be legitimate in the eyes of the people, and utterly useless.

We, therefore, demand an immediate cessation of all demolition activities involving the houses of the Nigerian people in Oworonshoki and across Lagos State, and across Nigeria, immediately. We demand full compliance with the court injunction issued by Justice A.G. Balogun, and an independent investigation into the involvement of armed police and hired thugs in the attack on residents.

“We demand a commensurate compensation and emergency housing for all displaced families, and a public apology and accountability from Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Lagos State Task Force leadership.

“MOT!ON stands with the displaced residents of Oworonshokiand every Nigerian community facing the tyranny of forced evictions and state violence. The struggle for transformation begins in the defense of ordinary lives against the machinery of greed and impunity.

“If the government insists on destroying homes under the cover of “development,” the people must insist on building a country where justice, not bulldozers, shapes our cities. We demand that the government stop the demolitions now. Stop the violence now. Return the people’s homes now!”

MOTiON is a collective force of Nigerians from mass democratic organisations, workers’ organisations, pro-democracy movements, movements for social justice, women groups, citizens groups, NGOs, academia, students and youth groups, and climate action groups. We are a movement of movements channeling shared anger, frustration and aspirations of Nigerians into purposeful action. Through concerted, strategic effort, we are engaging in citizens’ actions to address and overcome the root causes of Nigeria’s current state: elite capture, ineffective leadership, institutional corruption, insecurity, and the pervasive culture of impunity.

MOTION Condemns Demolition of Homes in Oworonsoki

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