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Chidi Odinkalu @ChidiOdinkalu
, 9 tweets, 7 min read Read on Twitter
At a time of serious peril in NE #Nigeria, @HQNigerianArmy has suspended @unicef's from the region, accusing it of “engaging in training selected persons for clandestine activities”, effectively of terrorism

punchng.com/breaking-milit…
Just to be sure there is no mis-translation, Operation #LafiyaDole Command claims @UNICEF_Nigeria is “sabotaging the counter-terrorism efforts” through “spurious & unconfirmed allegations bordering on alleged violations of #humanrights by the military.”
punchng.com/breaking-milit…
The claim by @HQNigerianArmy against @UNICEF_Nigeria is pretty serious. To begin with, UNICEF isn't an NGO; it's an int'l org. Nigeria actually supports its work. If these allegations are real, they shd have bn reported to HQ before now. Were they? If so, wht did they do or say?
2nd, the humanitarian situation in NE #Nigeria is dire & getting worse this season. Children are some of the worst affected. We need all the help we can. UNICEF has specialized skills & credibility can mobilise resources on a scale that many others can't.
3rd, these kinds of name-calling against humanitarians & #humanRights orgs in NE #Nigeria are familiar. @HQNigerianArmy has had humanitarians in the region on the defensive for a while with these kinds of things. Why is this more credible than the spurious ones in the past
4th, humanitarian orgs in NE #Nigeria have bn living precariously for some time because they have bn put under pressure by the security services & their legal status has bn uncertain. With this step against @UNICEF_Nigeria, many of them cld vote with their feet. That'd be v bad
@UNICEF_Nigeria Interestingly, the issue of whether or not @HQNigerianArmy violates human rights has bn investigated by official bodies, including the Justice Georgewill Presidential Investigation Panel, which in its rpt in Feb 2018 found the allegations well established
Rather than take umbrage & resort to unilateral self-help of throwing out credible institutions like @UNICEF_Nigeria nigeria, u'd think @HQNigerianArmy wld seek partnership with friends of #Nigeria in bringing about constructive changes in both doctrine & attitudes
@UNICEF_Nigeria @HQNigerianArmy @threadreaderapp unroll pls
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More from @ChidiOdinkalu see all

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It never easy to estimate the depth or extent of damage done by military rule. It's corrosions never go away. It's like we're in a civic #StockholmSyndrome - folks who get trampled by military abuses & misadventure often have an infinitely elastic capacity to ask for more abuse
It's terribly unfortunate that ppl who claim to be "constitutional" lawyers will justify soldiers ransacking a newspaper house, abducting journalists & confiscating computers, none of that procured with a court order or search warrant - basic niceties of rule-constrained process
The constitutional guarantee of free speech allows for limitation but that can only be done "by law reasonably justifiable in a democracy". Soldiers are not law unto themselves & it's not reasonably justifiable in a democracy for soldiers to go abducting ppl or ransacking media
Read 6 tweets
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Over 1 week since #DRCDecides2018, the world still awaits the results as election officials in the country have decided to postpone presidential election results while the Catholic Church says there has been a very clear winner theguardian.com/world/2019/jan…
Meanwhile, following a well-worn pattern of rigging #AfricanElections & to enable it control the results process in #DRCDecides2018, the govt in the DRC has imposed a shutdown on digital services, including SMS, micro-blogging & WhatsApp theguardian.com/world/2019/jan…
The #InternetShutdown in #DRCDecides2018 has triggered 2 related fears. One is that the govt of @Plaid_Kabila has a “plan to obscure the truth of the ballot box” & the other is that there'll be serious violence (PEV), once manipulated results are announced
theguardian.com/world/2019/jan…
Read 5 tweets
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It's bn a brutal holiday season in many parts of #Nigeria. In the NE, #BokoHaram ambushed a military convoy monday, on highway linking Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, with Damaturu in neighbouring Yobe state, killing 13 soldiers & a @PoliceNG officer
msn.com/en-xl/africa/t…
Unsurprising, reports emerged shortly thereafter indicating that up to 167 @policeNG personnel in preparation for posting to counter-insurgency frontlines in NE #Nigeria have absconded before deployment, taking their weapons with them
premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines…
While the rest of the country marked Christmas, forced displacement appears to have intensified in NE #Nigeria, with @nemanigeria registering over 2,046 IDPs over the past 48 hours in one LGA
premiumtimesng.com/regional/nnort…
Read 10 tweets

Related threads

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#Nigeria’s military used a speech by Donald Trump to justify shooting at protesters in October. We investigated what happened and uncovered that an elite battalion fired machine guns into a crowd of unarmed marchers. nyti.ms/2GwdKAW
The military @HQNigerianArmy made several questionable claims:

1. The marchers blocked traffic.
2. The marchers attacked a military checkpoint with weapons and rocks.
3. Only 3 people were killed.
We reviewed hundreds of videos and pictures, went to the crime scene in #Abuja, interviewed survivors and talked to the military. Here’s how we did it - and what we found out.
Read 22 tweets
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In a week where the North East got yet another military commander, we got a better look at overburdened infrastructure.

Elsewhere, as MTN gears up to enter the banks’ turf, concern over Nigeria's food import practices conjures a picture of a recently painted but creaking house.
The @MTNGroup's announcement is a positive for #Nigeria's economy as it substantiates previous comments by MTN that it has no plans to exit Nigeria despite its spat with @cenbank over alleged illegal fund repatriation.
The announcement ties into @MTNGroup’s strategy to become the biggest provider of mobile financial services in #Africa.

The telecoms-led drive to provide mobile money services will introduce a new interesting chapter in #Nigeria’s financial services sector.
Read 21 tweets
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#Nigeria does not make or like #toys smh.

Africa exported $183.4m worth of toys led by the ff:

1. Tunisia: $70.3m
2. SA: $65.2m
3. Kenya: $11.2m
4. Morocco: $11.1m
5. Mauritius: $7.4m
6. Uganda: $5.8m
7. Madagascar: $4m
8. Chad: $1.2m
9. C.Verde: $1.1m
10. Zim: $936,000
/1
#Nigeria doesn't even like #toys smh.

Africa imported $1 billion worth of toys led by the ff:
1. SA: $459.4m
2. Morocco: $86.5m
3. Algeria: $78.5m
4. Egypt: $61.9m
5. Tunisia: $53.3m
6. Angola: $31.9m
7. Mauritius: $25.2m
8. Namibia: $20m
9. Djibouti: $18.5m
10. Libya: $15.4m
/2
140m Nigerians couldn't be #1.

Africa imported $40.1b worth of electronics led by the ff:
1. South Africa: $8.5 b
2. Egypt: $4.8 b
3. Morocco: $4.6 b
4. Algeria: $4 b
5. Tunisia: $2.7 b
6. Nigeria: $1.7 b
7. Ethiopia: $1.3 b
8. Ghana: $1.2 b
9. Kenya: $1.1 b
10. Angola: $1 b
/3
Read 10 tweets
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#NIGERIA: Tragic abduction and killing of Maj Gen Idris #Alkali (rtd), while traveling between #Abuja and Bauchi, adds to growing list of RETIRED GENERALS #kidnapped, shot or #killed, over last decade. The most notable cases…
2009: Maj Gen Peter #Ademokhai (rtd), ex-GOC 1 Division, ex-member, Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) was abducted at Iguoriakhi, Ovia North East LGA, Edo state, 23 April 2009; paid ransom, released after 2 days. Earlier, shot by robbers 9 April 1994, hospitalized for 8 months.
2007: Maj Gen Joseph Ayango #Aondo (rtd) was #killed in the federal capital, #Abuja, 14 June 2007. He had been chairman of the political campaign group, #Yar'Adua Associates, was seized at the entrance to his house, driven 5km on the Kubwa expressway, then shot dead in his car.
Read 9 tweets
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#Nigeria the Budget Office put out 2017 fiscal accounts which showed that FY deficit came in at NGN3.8tr (3.3% of nom GDP) and above the 3% fiscal responsibility act. As usual revenues missed thanks to usual over-optimistic non-oil rev assumptions and higher JV payments
But interestingly, capex spending came in a record NGN1.44tr (1.3% of GDP and around 66% of target) with overall budget execution at 87% suggesting some credibility in implementation despite the costs driven by higher drawdowns by Works, Power and Housing
Debt service/revenues printed at 69% (adjusted for sinking fund payments to retire debt 60%) but up from the 47% in 2016. Overall debt tracked higher due to increasingly more expensive borrowings over the last three years - a derivative of CBN tightening.
Read 7 tweets
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Nigeria (with all your caveats and disclaimers) is the economic engine that keeps the motor running for all her neighbours.

1/
This interview with Nigerian Ambassador to Chad informs us that 80% of goods & services imported by Chad are from or via Nigeria. Also, closure of cross border trade routes due to insecurity has greatly affected (informal) economy of both Chad and Cameroon thetidenewsonline.com/2012/05/07/%E2…
In fact, TIL there are over a million Chadians in the Lagos area, and even more settled in and around Maiduguri. Jos and Kano are also two other Chadian clusters. My informed intuition tells me that a majority must be involved in cross border trade of some kind with Chad. Why?
Read 21 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Nigeria #LafiyaDole #EndSARS #Islam #PastoralConflict #JobCreation #Austria #Panama #SeminarSeries #BringingBackChibokGirls #Time #BBOG #IfJesusWasBornInLagos #NorthEast #Ekiti #Benue #Benin #healthcare #NigeriaDecides2019 #Nauru #ChibokGirlsAbduction #Albania #Brexit #Love #Ademokhai

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