News
ECOWAS Parliament to Probe, Make Recommendations on Xenophobic Violence Against West Africans in South Africa
Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
In a rare moves, West African Lawmakers have registered dismay over violent attacks against their citizens living in South Africa prompting an urgent investigation and recommendations.
It could be recalled that the last few weeks have witnessed grave attacks on Africans mostly Nigerians and Ghanaians living in South fueled by anti migrant movements and sentiments such as Operation Dudula.
In a touching presentation titled:
“West African lives, dignity, and the imperative of integration: accountability, justice and free movement, and regional security,” Hon. George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, Third Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament and Leader of the Ghanaian Delegation said:
“The xenophobic violence engulfing South Africa – Across KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Cape Town, and Pretoria, Ghanaians, Nigerians, Zimbabweans, Ethiopians, and other African nationals have been attacked, looted, displaced, and killed.”
He noted that the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg confirmed the deaths of two citizens — Amaramiro Emmanuel and Ekpenyong Andrew.
He reported that an Ethiopian national was shot dead at a busy intersection, and the killing was captured on CCTV.
Hon. George pointed out that:
“Ghanaian shops have been shuttered under threat. Vigilante groups have stopped people outside hospitals and schools to demand documents. Footage of foreign nationals being beaten and subjected to verbal assault has circulated on every screen across this continent.”
He explained that Ghana’s Foreign Minister, the Honourable Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, summoned South Africa’s Acting High Commissioner in Accra over a documented incident in which a Ghanaian legal resident was confronted and told — to leave and ‘fix his country.’
Hon. George said:
“Nigeria similarly summoned South Africa’s envoy in Abuja. The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission declared on the twenty-ninth of April that the situation is deteriorating and earlier engagements have not yielded calm. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has formally deplored the attacks. And on the first of May, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema asked his own compatriots: after beating Nigerians and Ghanaians, how many jobs have you created?”
Hon. George called on the Speaker and Community Parliamentarians to address directly the intervention of President Cyril Ramaphosa in his keynote address at the 2026 Freedom Day National Celebrations in Bloemfontein on the twenty-seventh of April.
“This Parliament acknowledges that President Ramaphosa spoke. He said — and I quote the official record of the Presidency — ‘We must not allow these concerns to give rise to xenophobia, directed towards people from other African countries or any other parts of the world. Instead, we must insist that the law be upheld and enforced.”
He referenced the South African President’s comments in which he said that “We will not allow people to take the law into their own hands.”
“And he affirmed: ‘It cannot be, and it must never be, that we trample into the dust the African fellowship that made our freedom possible.”
Hon. George said that they take President Ramaphosa at his word but expressed reservations on the rhetorical framing.
“But it is precisely because we take him at his word that I say, through this forum and for the record: words delivered from a ceremonial platform do not arrest a single perpetrator,” Hon. George emphasized.
“Condemnations, however eloquent, do not bring a single attacker before a magistrate.
Calls to uphold the law ring hollow when the perpetrators of mob violence, arson, looting, assault, and murder walk free — their faces visible in videos that every African has seen.”
Hon. George recalled that on the same Freedom Day speech, President Ramaphosa described African nationals as “guests whose welcome is conditional on respect for South African laws”.
“That framing — however unintentionally — provides militant groups with a grammar of conditional hospitality that they have readily translated into a licence for violence.
A government cannot simultaneously condemn mob justice and deploy the language that mobs use to justify their actions.
My personal statement to this House, Mr Speaker, is this: South Africa must move from speeches to action.
The South African Police Service, the National Prosecuting Authority, and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate must investigate every documented incident.
Social media has provided an abundance of documentation.
The perpetrators many of whose faces are known must be identified, arrested, charged, and prosecuted to conviction, without fear or favour, without selectivity, and without impunity. Not some of them. All of them.
News
You’re a Hypocrite!” – Bashir el-Rufai Goes Nuclear on Brother Bello Over Uba Sani Loyalty
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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
Bashir el-Rufai, son of former Kaduna governor Nasir el-Rufai, unleashed a barrage of slurs at his brother, Bello, on Saturday morning.
Bashir, in a series of expletive-laden posts on X, attacked Bello over his recent political moves, accusing him of abandoning the family while he was aligned with Uba Sani, his father’s successor.
Sani, the incumbent governor of Kaduna, was a former ally of el-Rufai, but both men fell out after the former won the 2023 governorship election.
Following el-Rufai’s resignation from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in March 2025, Bello, who represents Kaduna north federal constituency, remained in the ruling party.
However, on May 7, 2026, Bello eventually defected from the APC to join his father in the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Commenting on Saturday, Bashir alleged that his brother remained loyal to Sani until he realised he was being “dumped”, after which he began talking about family loyalty.
“Stuck with Uba Sani until he realized he is being dumped then suddenly remembered family loyalty and moved to ADC. Where was he since? Purely serving his interest,” Bashir wrote.
He accused his brother of being neutral while others criticised the Kaduna state governor.
Bashir also alleged that Bello asked him to “pipe down my criticism of his former boss,” presumably Sani.
One of Bashir’s tweets. The expletives have been redacted.
“At this stage in my life, I hate nonsense,” he added, while calling his brother a hypocrite.
Bashir also made several other allegations against his brother in the X posts, some of which were later deleted.
The allegations bordered on fertility status and unsubstantiated drug use.
Their father, el-Rufai, has been in custody since February 2026 over alleged financial impropriety during his tenure as governor of Kaduna between 2015 and 2023.
On April 13, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) arraigned him at the Kaduna high court on an amended nine-count charge bordering on alleged fraud and abuse of office.
The Department of State Services (DSS) is also prosecuting el-Rufai before the federal high court in Abuja over allegations of wiretapping.
News
Court Ultimatum Forces FBI to Hand Over Tinubu’s Fraud Records to Judge—But Keeps Them Hidden from Public
By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has hand delivered records of President Bola Tinubu’s 1993 drug-trafficking and money-laundering case to Judge Howell Beryl of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, saying they are for her eyes only, court filings seen by Peoples Gazette indicated.
The FBI secretly submitted the records on Friday to avoid disobeying a court order while sidelining transparency campaigner, Aaron Greenspan, who petitioned the Bureau for the Nigerian leader’s records in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Following years of foot-dragging on a FOI petition filed by Mr Greenspan in 2023, the FBI on Friday complied with a court order directing it to release Mr Tinubu’s records. Mr Greenspan worked with Nigerian journalist, David Hundeyin, to file the petition in 2023.
The records submitted as “under seal, ex parte, in camera declarations were hand delivered to the Court on August 28, 2026 in compliance with this Court’s Minute Order dated August 20, 2026,” filings showed.
Mrs Beryl lost her patience with the FBI after the bureau missed several deadlines , giving excuses on why it could not immediately provide the records.
She issued August 28 as the final ultimatum to the FBI, which prompted the FBI’s decision to comply, showing it “in camera” to the judge alone, without carrying along the petitioner.
Earlier this week , FBI claimed that submitting the records would violate Mr Tinubu’s privacy and argued that FOI was established to screen the operations and records of government institutions, not necessarily private individuals.
For decades, Mr Tinubu has avoided speaking on the drug affair, refusing to clarify controversies surrounding his involvement in a case that saw him forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars to the U.S. government.
Mr Tinubu also sought to block the release of his records, asserting his rivals only sought to use them to discredit him in a Nigerian presidential election. He begged the court to protect his privacy rights.
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 2023 released documents holding Mr Tinubu’s encounter with American authorities over allegations of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.
News
NFF President Gusau Resigns
By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa
Nigeria Football Federation President, Ibrahim Gusau, has resigned from office, announcing his decision during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.
According to the Super Eagles news account on X (@SSE_NGA), Gusau was joined by board members of the Executive Committee in resignation.
The crisis follows the Super Falcons’ failure to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, a first in Nigeria’s history, after a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in the play-off.
The Falcons had earlier been knocked out of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations at the quarter-final stage by Cameroon. The Super Eagles also failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
The NFF has separately faced scrutiny over its handling of a ₦17bn Federal Government intervention fund released in 2024, as well as a fact-finding committee report alleging that board members and officials influenced national team invitations for financial gain.
Gusau’s exit comes ahead of the NFF’s elective congress, scheduled for September 27 in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
You’re a Hypocrite!” – Bashir el-Rufai Goes Nuclear on Brother Bello Over Uba Sani Loyalty
Court Ultimatum Forces FBI to Hand Over Tinubu’s Fraud Records to Judge—But Keeps Them Hidden from Public
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You’re a Hypocrite!” – Bashir el-Rufai Goes Nuclear on Brother Bello Over Uba Sani Loyalty
Court Ultimatum Forces FBI to Hand Over Tinubu’s Fraud Records to Judge—But Keeps Them Hidden from Public
Ratko Mladić: The Butcher of Bosnia and the Shadow He Leaves Behind
NFF President Gusau Resigns
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I Gave Tijjani Gandu N10 Million to Support Musicians, Media but Funds Were Allegedly Not Distributed – Governor Yusuf’s Spokesperson
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