Judge Blocks Trump Policy Keeping Asylum-Seekers Locked Up

In this June 28, 2019, file photo, Matt Adams, center right, Legal Director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, leaves the U.S. Courthouse with others after a hearing on asylum seekers in Seattle. On Tuesday, July 2, 2019, a federal judge in Seattle has blocked a Trump administration policy that would keep thousands of asylum seekers locked up while they pursue their cases. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

BY GENE JOHNSON

SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday blocked a Trump administration policy that would keep thousands of asylum-seekers locked up while they pursue their cases, saying the Constitution demands that such migrants have a chance to be released from custody.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman ruled Tuesday that people who are detained after entering the country illegally to seek protection are entitled to bond hearings. Attorney General William Barr announced in April that the government would no longer offer such hearings, but instead keep them in custody. It was part of the administration’s efforts to deter a surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Pechman said that as people who have entered the U.S., they are entitled to the Fifth Amendment’s due-process protections, including “a longstanding prohibition against indefinite civil detention with no opportunity to test its necessity.”

Immigrant rights advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project sued to block the policy, which was due to take effect July 15.

“The court reaffirmed what has been settled for decades: that asylum-seekers who enter this country have a right to be free from arbitrary detention,” Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, said in a written statement. “Thousands of asylum-seekers will continue to be able to seek release on bond, as they seek protection from persecution and torture.”

The Justice Department did not immediately return an email seeking comment, but the government was expected to quickly appeal the decision, as Pechman noted in her order.

For the past 50 years, the government has given asylum-seekers bond hearings before immigration judges where they can argue that they should be released because they are not flight risks and pose no threat to the public, the immigrant rights groups told the court. That gives the asylum-seekers an opportunity to reunite with relatives in the U.S. and to find lawyers to handle their asylum claims, making them more likely to succeed.

The new policy would end that practice, keeping between 15,000 and 40,000 immigrants in custody for six months or more without requiring the government to show that their detentions are justified, the groups argued. Typically, close to half of asylum-seekers who are granted bond hearings are released from custody.

“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have established a constitutionally-protected interest in their liberty, a right to due process which includes a hearing before a neutral decisionmaker to assess the necessity of their detention, and a likelihood of success on the merits of that issue,” the judge wrote.

Pechman, who heard arguments last Friday, said the government must provide a bond hearing within seven days of a request by any immigrant who has demonstrated that they have a credible fear of persecution or torture if returned to their home country. The asylum-seekers must be released if not granted a hearing within that time frame, she said.

Pechman also said the burden must be on the government at such hearings to show that keeping asylum-seekers in custody is necessary because they pose a flight risk or a danger to the public.

President Donald Trump has said he is determined to end the “catch and release” of migrants at the border. He has also called the asylum system broken, saying that some take advantage of it with frivolous claims.

The lawsuit, a nationwide class action, began as a challenge to the separation of family members at the border under Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy. Its legal claims have morphed as the government’s policies have shifted.

Pechman first issued an order in April saying that the government must give the asylum-seekers hearings within a week, saying delays in holding such hearings violated their rights. Eleven days later, the attorney general issued a decision finding that they weren’t entitled to bond hearings at all.

The Justice Department argued that the policy is a legitimate interpretation of a federal law that says if immigration officers determine immigrants have a credible fear of persecution, they “shall be detained for further consideration of the application for asylum.”

The government also argued that even without bond hearings, detained asylum-seekers would still have another avenue for release: a request to an immigration officer for parole. Such requests are rarely granted under the Trump administration, however, and the immigrant rights groups said they are not a substitute for bond hearings before independent fact-finders.

Border Patrol Head Condemns Agents' Offensive Facebook Posts

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, walks to the front of the Clint Border Patrol station to talk about what she saw at area border facilities Monday, July 1, at the station in Clint. (Briana Sanchez / El Paso Times via AP)

BY CEDAR ATTANASIO, COLLEEN LONG

CLINT, TEXAS (AP) — The head of the U.S. Border Patrol on Monday slammed as “completely inappropriate” sexually explicit posts about U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and comments questioning the authenticity of a photo of a drowned man and his young daughter in a secret Facebook group for agents.

The existence of the group was reported by ProPublica as roughly a dozen members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, including Democrats Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Veronica Escobar of Texas, toured border facilities where attorneys said they had found migrant children living in fetid, filthy conditions.

Some of the posts were graphic, doctored images of Ocasio-Cortez, including one that shows a smiling President Donald Trump forcing her head toward his crotch. Other comments refer to Ocasio-Cortez and Escobar as “hoes,” and one member encouraged agents to throw a “burrito at these bitches.”

Ocasio-Cortez said she wasn’t surprised by the posts, especially after the treatment of migrants she said she witnessed at the facility.

“It’s just indicative of the violent culture that we saw,” she said.

The revelation about the Facebook posts only added to the vitriolic atmosphere surrounding immigration and the treatment of tens of thousands of migrants who have crossed the border, vastly straining the system that has been struggling to keep up amid Trump’s hardline rhetoric.

The Democrats delivered an emotional denunciation of what they saw inside the border facilities as protesters shouted that they didn’t believe them.

“When we went into the cell, it was clear that the water was not running ... in fact, one of the women said that she was told by an agent to drink from the toilet,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas and twin brother of presidential candidate Julian Castro.

The Texas visit came the same day as Trump signed a $4.6 billion emergency aid package that Congress passed on Friday. The Democratic-led House had pushed for more restrictions on how the money could be used and stricter oversight, but ultimately lost the battle.

Trump said he hadn’t seen the postings, but claimed Border Patrol agents were not happy with Congress.

“So the Border Patrol, they’re patriots, they’re great people. They love our country. They know who’s coming in,” said Trump.

Lawmakers who toured the facilities shared their experiences widely on social media. Rep. Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts called them “jail-like. No way to keep a child or innocent human being.” The head of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, California Rep. Judy Chu said “what we saw was appalling and disgusting.”

Castro said there would likely be a Congressional investigation into the Facebook posts.

Billed as “fun, serious and just work related,” the group of about 9,500 members of current and former Border Patrol employees states: “We are family, first and foremost,” according to ProPublica.

Another thread involved the image published last week by The Associated Press of a migrant father and his toddler, drowned on the banks of the Rio Grande. One commenter suggested the image was doctored because the bodies were too clean.

“We’ve all seen the dems and liberal parties do some pretty sick things,” the comment read.

They marked a sharp contrast to accounts of Border Patrol officers spending their own money on food for migrants in their care, or rescuing migrants from the Rio Grande , or from a bombing range in Arizona. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of Border Patrol, said an investigation into “disturbing social media activity” was underway.

“These posts are completely inappropriate and contrary to the honor and integrity I see — and expect — from our agents day in and day out,” Border Patrol chief Carla Provost said. “Any employees found to have violated our standards of conduct will be held accountable.”

Ocasio-Cortez raised hackles last month when she tweeted: “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying.”

Her tweet set off a firestorm of criticism from GOP lawmakers and others over her use of “concentration camps,” with some saying she was unfairly comparing the southern border to the Holocaust. The Border Patrol’s union, while condemning the Facebook posts, also took a swipe at her.

“Whether one agrees with the politics of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Escobar, they both must be treated with dignity and respect,” according to a statement from the union. “Similarly, when Rep. Ocasio-Cortez refers to CBP facilities as concentration camps ... she does nothing to improve the political discourse.”

___

Long reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report from Washington.

Africa’s Noble Legacy Of Support For Palestinian Struggle

BY RAMZY BAROUD

EURASIAN REVIEW

Europe’s “Scramble for Africa” began in earnest in 1881, but never ended. Attempts to dominate the continent using old and new strategies continue to define Western relationships with this rich region.

This reality was further validated when I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, on June 23. Although my objective was to address various Kenyan audiences at universities, public forums and in the media, I also came here to learn. Kenya, like the rest of Africa, is a source of inspirationfor all anti-colonial and liberation movements around the world. We, the Palestinians, can learn a great deal from the Kenyan struggle.

Although African countries have fought valiant battles for their freedom against their Western colonizers, neocolonialism now defines the relationship between many independent African countries and their former occupiers. Political meddling, economic control and, at times, military interventions, as in the recent cases of Libya and Mali, point to the unfortunate reality that Africa remains, in myriad ways, hostage to Western priorities, interests and diktats.

At the infamous Berlin Conferenceof 1884, Western colonial regimes attempted to mediate among the various powers that were competing for Africa’s largesse. It assigned each a share of the continent, as if Africa was the property of the West and its white colonists. Millions of Africans died in that protracted, bloody episode unleashed by the West, which shamelessly promoted its genocidal oppression as a civilization project.

Like most colonized countries in the Southern Hemisphere, Africans fought disproportionate battles to gain their precious freedom. Here in Kenya, which became an official British colony in the 1920s, freedom fighters rose in rebellion against the brutality of their oppressors. Most notable among the various resistance campaigns was the Mau Mau Rebellion of the 1950s, which remains a stark example of the courage of Kenyans and the cruelty of colonial Britain. Thousands of people were killed, wounded, disappeared or were imprisoned under the harshest of conditions.

Palestine fell under British occupation, the so-called British Mandate, during the same period that Kenya also became a British colony. Palestinians, too, fought and fell in their thousands as they employed various methods of collective resistance, including the legendary strike and rebellion of 1936. The same British killing machine that operated in Palestine and Kenya at that time also operated, with the same degree of senseless violence, against numerous other nations around the world.

At one of my recent talks in Nairobi, I was asked by a young participant about “Palestinian terrorism.” I told her that the Palestinian fighters of today are Kenya’s Mau Mau rebels of yesteryear. I said that, if we allow Western and Israeli propaganda to define the discourse of Palestinian national liberation, then we condemn all national liberation movements throughout the Southern Hemisphere, including Kenya’s own freedom fighters.

We Palestinians, however, must shoulder part of the blame of why our narrative as an oppressed, colonized and resisting nation is now misunderstood in parts of Africa. When the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) committed its historic blunder of signing off Palestinian rights in Oslo in 1993, it abandoned a decades-long Palestinian discourse of resistance and liberation. Instead, it subscribed to a whole new discourse, riddled with carefully worded language sanctioned by Washington and its European allies. Whenever Palestinians dared to deviate from their assigned role, they were decreed by the West to return to the negotiating table, which became a metaphor for obedience and submission.

Throughout these years, Palestinians mostly abandoned their far more meaningful alliances in Africa. Instead, they endlessly appealed to the goodwill of the West, hoping that the very colonial powers that primarily created, sustained and armed Israel would miraculously become more balanced and humane.

However, Washington, London, Paris, Berlin, etc., remained committed to Israel and, despite occasional polite criticism of the Tel Aviv government, continued to channeltheir weapons, warplanes and submarines to every Israeli government that has ruled over Palestinians for the last seven decades.

Alas, while Palestinians were learning their painful lesson, betrayed repeatedly by those who avowed to respect democracy and human rights, many African nations began seeing in Israel a possible ally. Kenya is, sadly, one of those countries.

Understanding the significance of Africa in terms of its economic and political potential (particularly support for Israel at the UN General Assembly), right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched his own “Scramble for Africa.” Netanyahu’s diplomatic conquests on the continent have been celebrated by the Israeli media as “historic,” while the Palestinian leadership remained oblivious to the rapidly changing political landscape.

Kenya is one of Israel’s success stories. In November 2017, Netanyahu attended the inauguration of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who supposedly received an astonishing 98 percent of votes in the previous month’s elections. While Kenyans rose in rebellion against their corrupt ruling classes, Netanyahu was seen embracing Kenyatta as a dear friend and ally.

Netanyahu’s strategy in Kenya — and the rest of Africa — has been based on the same logic, where Israel would use its security technology to support corrupt and undemocratic regimes in exchange for their political support.

Tel Aviv had hoped that the first Israel-Africa summit in Togo would usher in a complete paradigm shift in Israeli-African relations. However, the October 2017 conference never materialized due to pressure by various African countries, including South Africa. There is still enough support for Palestine on the continent to defeat Israeli stratagem, but that could soon change if the Palestinians and their allies do not wake up to the alarming reality.

The Palestinian leadership, intellectuals, artists and civil society ambassadors must shift their attention back to the Southern Hemisphere, and Africa in particular, rediscovering the untapped wealth of true, unconditional human solidarity that is provided by the peoples of this ever-generous continent.

The legendary Tanzanian freedom fighter Julius Nyerere, who is also celebrated in Kenya, knew well where his solidarity lay. “We have never hesitated in our support for the right of the people of Palestine to have their own land,” he once said— a sentiment that was repeated by the iconic late South African President Nelson Mandela and many other African liberation leaders.

This generation of African leaders should not deviate from that noble legacy. If they betray it, they betray themselves, along with the righteous struggles of their own peoples.

3 Nigerian Women Beg For US to Help Stop Persecution Of Christians

Christians in Nigeria suffer mutilation and death for their faith. Pictured: The damaged altar of St. Moses Catholic Church in the village of Bakin Kogi, in Kaduna State in northwest Nigeria, after a recent attack by Fulani militants. (Photo: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images)

BY CARMEL KOOKOGEY
After 110 Nigerian girls were kidnapped by Boko Haram terrorists in February 2018, all but one eventually were released.

But Leah Sharibu, 16, is still held captive by the terrorists because of her refusal to renounce her Christian faith.

The trend of Christian persecution in the African country was discussed at a Heritage Foundation gathering last month, “Insecurity in Nigeria: Eyewitnesses Speak,” featuring three Nigerian women who shared their harrowing stories in hopes of prompting action from the U.S. government.

Here’s what they had to say.

‘A Prisoner of Conscience’

In Nigeria, Leah Sharibu is celebrated today as a martyr. Songs are composed about her, videos are produced, and books are written. But for Leah’s mother, getting her daughter back matters more than anything else.

“I stand here for pleading the government of U.S.,” Rebecca Sharibu said in tears and broken English during the Heritage event on Capitol Hill. “Please, help me. Please, help me. I need my daughter back. I need my daughter.”

Gloria Puldu, a friend of the family and a senior lecturer in the political science department at the University of Jos in central Nigeria, spoke on behalf of Rebecca Sharibu.

Puldu explained why Leah was singled out among the 110 girls.

“The other girls, who are all Muslim girls, are released. … When [Leah] was told to renounce her faith and recite the Kalima-e-Shahadah–“Kalima-e-Shahadah” means the Islamic faith creed–she refused to do that,” Puldu said. “That was the only reason that she was kept back.”

After Leah’s capture, Puldu said, her family and friends did everything they could to get the attention of the federal and local governments in Nigeria, without success. She said that even though many people advocated government action on TV and social media, the Nigerian government has not done anything to free the teen.

“She is a prisoner of conscience,” Puldu said of Leah. “She didn’t do anything, but up till now, we did not get that attention. And that is why we are here. And what [Rebecca Sharibu is] saying is to plead with your government to please pressure our government, because our government seems unable to secure her release.”

‘If I Keep Quiet, to What Gain?’

Alheri Magaji is the daughter of the current leader of the Adara tribe in northern Nigeria’s Kaduna State.

The tribe, almost completely Christian, was attacked by Fulani militants from mid-February through April. Nearly 400 people–mostly women, children, and the elderly–were killed.

The Fulani militants, also called “Fulani herdsmen,” are a tribe of Muslims who, since this year’s attacks, have become more deadly to Nigerian Christians than the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.

Magaji, who appeared to be in her late 20s, told the Heritage audience that she was warned not to speak about the persecution her tribe suffered because she might be killed or beaten by Kaduna State police. She said:

But I asked the person that called me, I said, ‘What have I got to lose if I don’t talk?’ My family is killed every day. My dad was locked up for over a hundred days. My tribe is now extinct. So if I keep quiet, to what gain will that be?

The people who die every day are human beings too. And if I have an opportunity to let the world know what’s happening in my hometown, I will do anything to be able to save–even if it’s one life.

The Nigerian government describes the Fulani’s attacks as merely “retaliatory.” But Magaji said the Adara people never have attacked the Fulani.

She told the story of a mother who was nine months pregnant with her fifth child when the Fulani came to attack the Adara tribe. About 400 Fulani militants with AK-47s came into the community at 6:30 a.m. on a February morning. The Adara, as hunters with no assault weapons, ran for cover and were unable to respond, Magaji said.

The Fulani told all the Adara children to lie down on the floor, Magaji said, and one of the woman’s sons began to cry when he saw his two siblings’ heads being severed.

“But when they got to the fourth child to slaughter, the Fulani men couldn’t find the child,” she said. “And [the mother] said God was telling her in the midst of that chaos that he’s alive, and he’s there.”

She continued:

They searched everywhere, but they couldn’t find the fourth child. And he was sitting right there, in front of her. And she was trying to reach out and hold her kid, but she couldn’t even. And then when they went out and she ran to her kid, to hug him, they came back inside and then they cut off her left hand, and tried to sever her head, and then kicked her tummy. She started bleeding and passed out. It was the reverend father that came and rescued her.

By the time she woke up, her 9-month-old baby had died; they had operated on her and removed the child. Her only surviving child was the child that God protected from the Fulani herdsmen.

So I want to tell you that we believe in God. We know that God is the reason why we are even here to tell our story. What we’ve been through–it’s impossible to even stand and talk, because it’s so real when you’re living in situations like that.

Magaji said that although her people are “sleeping under the skies,” they are not asking for relief supplies.

We are here to beg people, beg you, beg the U.S. government, to please wade into the armada. We want justice for our land. We need our land back. We are 95% Christian, Adara. Adara is the largest Christian community in Kaduna State.

So we know it won’t end at Adara alone. There seems to be a systematic plan to take over Kaduna State and Nigeria as a whole. It is purely religious. Purely. I’m living this. It’s not something I read in the newspaper. It’s what we’re living.

‘Where Is Your Jesus?’

Mercy Maisamari, a member of the Adara tribe who was kidnapped by the Fulani militants, described how they came to her parents’ home asking after her father for unknown reasons.

The Fulani kidnapped Maisamari along with her siblings and her mother, walking them for 12 hours to the Fulani camp. They remained captive for 11 days.

Even after her father paid the ransom the terrorists demanded, the Fulani took him into the camp and beat him before releasing the family together the next day.

Maisamari explained:

After the whole kidnapping thing, the government arrested my dad twice, on different occasions. He was taken with some of the nine [Adara] elders away, locked up for 105 days, over what we know nothing about. They said 66 Fulani were killed.

Our people were killed, but nobody said anything about it, not even the media. But they arrested our elders, and locked them up for 105 days, without any proof that they did this thing.

Maisamari also shared how the Kaduna State governor paid the militants to stop the kidnappings.

“I just wonder how [the Nigerian government says] they can’t get these people to arrest them,” she said. “You find out that the government are trying to negotiate with the kidnappers, to pay them to stop kidnapping people. How? How do they agree to negotiate when they can always arrest these people?”

Maisamari also pleaded for the U.S. to help Christians in Nigeria:


We are here to beg the U.S. government to please come to our aid. Girls, your girls, like Leah Sharibu and others, are kidnapped almost on a daily basis. They kidnap you, they do whatever, they beat you up, they abuse you.

They ask you–some of them would ask us, ‘Where is your Jesus? Call your Jesus to come and save you!’ So we are here to beg the U.S. government to please come to our aid.

SOURCE: THE DAILY SIGNAL

Protesters In Hong Kong Break Into Legislature, Paint Logos

Protesters gather inside the meeting hall of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Monday, July 1, 2019. Protesters in Hong Kong took over the legislature's main building Friday night, tearing down portraits of legislative leaders and spray painting pro-democracy slogans on the walls of the main chamber.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

BY KEN MORITSUGU

HONG KONG (AP) — Hundreds of protesters in Hong Kong swarmed into the legislature’s main building Monday night, tearing down portraits of legislative leaders and spray-painting pro-democracy slogans on the walls of the main chamber as frustration over a lack of response from the administration to opposition demands boiled over.

Police carrying riot shields and firing tear gas moved in shortly after midnight to clear surrounding streets but appeared to have paused outside the legislative building. A spokesman had earlier broadcast a warning that “appropriate force” would be used in the clearance operation, but there was no immediate word on any arrests or injuries.

The flashing blue and red lights of dozens of police vans and buses lit up the abandoned streets leading to the legislature.

The sharp escalation in tactics came on the anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China, a city holiday, and reflected mounting frustration with Hong Kong’s leader for not responding to protesters’ demands after several weeks of demonstrations.

The protesters whacked away at thick glass windows until they shattered and broke and pried open steel security gates and propped them open with barricades to get inside. Police in riot gear retreated as the protesters entered about 9 p.m., avoiding a confrontation and giving them the run of the building.

Protesters gather outside the Legislative Council as they stage a rally in Hong Kong, Monday, July 1, 2019. Combative protesters are staging a protest outside the Hong Kong legislature as a crowd of thousands prepares to start a march in that direction.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

They stood on lawmakers’ desks in the main legislative chamber, painted over the territory’s emblem high up on a wooden wall and wrote slogans calling for a democratic election of the city’s leader and denouncing now-suspended extradition legislation that sparked the protests. Many wore yellow and white helmets, face masks and the black T-shirts that have become their uniform.

Police announced about 10:30 p.m. that they would clear the area, asking protesters to leave.

The actions prompted organizers of a separate peaceful march against the extradition bill to change the endpoint of their protest from the legislature to a nearby park, after police asked them to either call it off or change the route. Police wanted the march to end earlier in the Wan Chai district, but organizers said that would leave out many people who planned to join the march along the way.

Police estimated 190,000 people joined the peaceful march, the third major one in as many weeks. Organizers estimated the number at 550,000.

Hong Kong has been wracked by weeks of protests over a government attempt to change extradition laws to allow suspects to be sent to China to face trial. The proposed legislation, on which debate has been suspended indefinitely, increased fears of eroding freedoms in the territory, which Britain returned to China on July 1, 1997.

Protesters want the bills formally withdrawn and Hong Kong’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, to resign.

Lam, who has come under withering criticism for trying to push the legislation through, pledged to be more responsive to public sentiment but has not responded directly to protesters’ demands.

In an address after a flag-raising ceremony marking the anniversary of the handover, Lam said the protests and two earlier marches that attracted hundreds of thousands of participants have taught her that she needs to listen better to youth and people in general.

“This has made me fully realize that I, as a politician, have to remind myself all the time of the need to grasp public sentiments accurately,” she told the gathering in the city’s cavernous convention center.

She insisted her government has good intentions, but said “I will learn the lesson and ensure that the government’s future work will be closer and more responsive to the aspirations, sentiments and opinions of the community.”

Security guards pushed pro-democracy lawmaker Helena Wong out of the room as she shouted at Lam to resign and withdraw the “evil” legislation. She later told reporters she was voicing the grievances and opinions of the protesters, who could not get into the event.
Mainland China’s entirely state-controlled media made no mention of Monday’s protests. The main evening news broadcast carried video of the flag-raising ceremony, along with parts of Lam’s address and shots of Hong Kong residents praising displays put on by the People’s Liberation Army garrison in the territory.

Chinese media outlets have barely reported on the protests since they began last month, other than to blame foreign forces for stirring up unrest.

The extradition bill controversy has given fresh momentum to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition movement, awakening broader concerns that China is chipping away at the rights guaranteed to Hong Kong for 50 years under a “one country, two systems” framework. The two marches in June drew more than a million people, according to organizer estimates.

Jimmy Sham, a leader of the pro-democracy group that organized Monday’s march, told the crowd that Lam had not responded to their demands because she is not democratically elected. The leader of Hong Kong is chosen by a committee dominated by pro-China elites.

“We know that Carrie Lam can be so arrogant,” Sham said, rallying the crowd under a blazing sun before the start of the march at Victoria Park. “She is protected by our flawed system.”

The protesters are also demanding an independent inquiry into police actions during a June 12 protest, when officers used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a demonstration that blocked the legislature on the day that debate on the bill had been scheduled to resume.

The police say the use of force was justified, but since then have largely adopted softer tactics, even as protesters besieged police headquarters in recent days, pelting it with eggs and spray-painting slogans on its outer walls.

The area around Golden Bauhinia Square, where the flag-raising ceremony took place, was blocked off from Saturday to prevent protesters from gathering to disrupt it. Before the morning ceremony, protesters trying to force their way to the square were driven back by officers with plastic shields and batons, the retreating protesters pointing open umbrellas to ward off pepper spray.

“We are horrified, this is our obligation to do this, we are protecting our home,” said Jack, a 26-year-old office worker who would only give his first name. “I don’t know why the government is harming us. It’s harming the rule of law, the rule of law is the last firewall between us and the Chinese Communist Party.”

The extradition legislation has drawn opposition from the legal profession, commercial groups and foreign nations, reflecting Hong Kong’s status as an international business center with a strong independent judiciary and high degree of transparency.

During a brief visit to Mongolia on Monday, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Washington expects “China like every other country to adhere to its international obligations” regarding Hong Kong.

China rejects all such statements as foreign interference. In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a daily briefing that “Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs, and no foreign country has the right to intervene.”

Associated Press journalists Raf Wober, Alice Fung, Johnson Lai and Dake Kang in Hong Kong and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.

The Latest: Police Begin Clearing Hong Kong Legislature

A protester holds a black flag to symbolize mourning for Hong Kong during a protest in Hong Kong on Monday, July 1, 2019. Protesters in Hong Kong pushed barriers and dumpsters into the streets early Monday morning in an apparent bid to block access to a symbolically important ceremony marking the anniversary of the return of the former British colony to China. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HONG KONG (AP) — The Latest on protests on the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China (all times local):

12:05 a.m.

Police have begun advancing on Hong Kong’s legislature building to clear protesters who broke into it and vandalized offices and the main chamber.

An AP journalist said he could feel tear gas Monday night as he and other media left the building with protesters.

The crackdown began around midnight.

Police earlier announced they would begin clearing the building and warned they would use appropriate force if they encountered resistance.

Hundreds of protesters broke into the building at about 9 p.m. and spray-painted slogans on the walls of the main chamber.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of others marched through the city to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.

10:45 p.m.

Hong Kong police have announced that they plan to clear Hong Kong’s legislative building after it was taken over by a group of protesters.

Police said in an announcement on Facebook on Monday night that they would clear the area in a short period of time, and warned they would use appropriate force if they encounter resistance.

They asked unrelated protesters to leave the area around the building as soon as possible.

Hundreds of protesters broke into the building at about 9 p.m. and spray-painted slogans on the walls of the main chamber.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of others marched through the city to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.

The protesters’ demands include the withdrawal of an extradition bill and the resignation of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam.

9:45 p.m.

A group of protesters in Hong Kong has taken over the legislative chamber, spray painting slogans on the wall and over the territory’s emblem.

Some stood on the desks of lawmakers Monday night while others climbed up to leave their messages on the soaring wooden wall.

Police appear to have retreated to avoid a confrontation, giving the protesters the run of the building.

They smashed and tore down portraits of legislative leaders after prying open metal gates to gain access.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of others marched through the city to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.

The protesters say the Hong Kong government is not responding to their demands for a full withdrawal of contentious extradition legislation and the resignation of city leader Carrie Lam.

9 p.m.

A group of protesters in Hong Kong has swarmed into the legislature building after breaking windows and prying open metal security curtains.

Police appeared to back off Monday night as the protesters came in, apparently to avoid a confrontation.

Hong Kong Cable TV showed the helmeted protesters walk through a security checkpoint and continue to smash through metal doors to try to go deeper into the building.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of others marched through the city to demand expanded democracy on the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China.

The protesters say the Hong Kong government is not responding to their demands for a full withdrawal of contentious extradition legislation and the resignation of city leader Carrie Lam.

Lam said earlier Monday that she would do a better job of listening to the voices of young people, but she has resisted calls to step down.

6:35 p.m.

A group of protesters in Hong Kong has torn down part of glass and metal exterior wall of the legislature building.

Hong Kong Cable TV showed live video Monday of them pulling off long strips of metal framework from the wall and carrying them away.

Earlier, the mostly young protesters hacked away repeatedly at the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, shattering them until they collapsed.

The protesters say the Hong Kong government is not responding to their demands for a full withdrawal of contentious extradition legislation and the resignation of city leader Carrie Lam.

Lam said earlier Monday that she would do a better job of listening to the voices of young people, but she has resisted calls to step down.

6 p.m.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton says Washington expects China to adhere to its international obligations when it comes to handling matters related to the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong.

Bolton’s comments during a brief visit to Mongolia on Monday came as thousands of Hong Kong residents filled city streets in an annual show of defiance against the Beijing-backed government. Marchers were energized by an ongoing controversy over now-suspended legislation that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland Chinese courts.

The U.S. expects “China like every other country to adhere to its international obligations,” Bolton said.

In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a daily briefing that “Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs, and no foreign country has the right to intervene.”

5:45 p.m.

Protesters are making a second attempt to smash through windows at Hong Kong’s legislative building.

A clanging sound could be heard late Monday afternoon as they banged repeatedly on the windows.

Earlier in the day, protesters smashed the bottom of a floor-to-ceiling window before police repelled them with pepper spray.

Television footage showed police waiting with gas masks on, but it was unclear if they would deploy the gas.

The protesters say the government isn’t responding to their demands for a formal withdrawal of an extradition bill that has been suspended and the resignation of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam.

5:15 p.m.

Chris Patten, who served as Hong Kong’s final governor while it was a British colony, says the UK must take a “much firmer line” against China amid fears it is increasing its influence in Hong Kong.

Patten, speaking Monday on the 22nd anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China, warned that Chinese leaders have been “strengthening their grip” on the semi-autonomous territory.

He said the British government has not been tough enough over China’s treatment of the Sino-British joint declaration of 1984 for Hong Kong’s autonomy.

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt used Monday’s anniversary to affirm Britain’s support for the “one country, two systems” relationship between Hong Kong and China.

3:50 p.m.

Organizers of a protest march in central Hong Kong have changed the ending point because of an ongoing protest by a smaller group trying to smash its way into the city’s legislative building.

The Civil Human Rights Front said Monday that the march would go to an area nearby instead of to the legislature. Police asked the organizers to stop the march at an earlier point, but the organizers refused.

The announcement came shortly before thousands of people set out from Victoria Park on a march down main roads. They are demanding that a proposed extradition law be withdrawn and that Hong Kong’s leader step down.

The annual march is held on the anniversary of Great Britain’s return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

3 p.m.

Police are warning combative protesters to stop trying to break into the Hong Kong legislative building.

With a crowd of a hundred or more people around them, a group of eight to 10 people repeatedly rammed a shopping cart and poles into a glass panel. After they managed to get the cart wedged into the damaged panel, police grabbed the cart away from them. They also posted a sign saying to the protesters, stop charging before we use force.

The combative group tried to shield themselves with umbrellas, a tactic used in the past to ward off pepper spray.

The unexpected disruption stalled the start of an annual march Monday marking the anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China in 1997.

2:15 p.m.

Combative protesters are staging a protest outside the Hong Kong legislature as a crowd of thousands prepares to start a march in that direction.

The unexpected disruption stalled the start of the march Monday. The crowd has started filing out of Victoria Park around 2 p.m.

Police asked the marchers to change their route or cancel the march.

Both the combative protesters and the marchers are opposing a government attempt to change extradition laws to allow suspects to be sent to China to face trial. The proposal has increased fears of eroding freedoms in the territory that was returned to China in 1997.

11:45 a.m.

Protesters in Hong Kong are taking a break after a morning confrontation with police and ahead of a planned march in the afternoon.

Several hundred demonstrators sat or napped Monday in the shade of a covered outdoor plaza that has becoming their gathering point.

Police drove them back earlier in the day as they tried to force their way toward the venue for a ceremony to mark the 22nd anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Many more people are expected to join the march against a proposal to allow suspects to be extradited to China to face charges.

A protester who gave only his first name, Jack, said “the rule of law is the last firewall between us and the Chinese Communist Party.”

9:30 a.m.

Hong Kong’s leader says a series of protests that have rocked her city have taught her that she needs to listen better to the youth and people in general.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam struck a conciliatory note Monday at a ceremony marking the 22nd anniversary of the return of the former British colony to China.

She said she has to remind herself all the time of the need to grasp public sentiments and ensure the government’s work is closer to the aspirations of the people.

Security guards pushed a pro-democracy lawmaker out of the room as she shouted at Lam to resign.

Lam has come under criticism for pushing legislation that many saw as eroding Hong Kong’s freedoms as a semi-autonomous territory of China.

9 a.m.

The Hong Kong government has marked the 22nd anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China, as police faced off with protesters outside the venue.

A flag-raising ceremony was held under high security Monday morning with police using riot shields to push back demonstrators who had blocked a nearby street.

Hong Kong leaders and guests watched the ceremony inside the city’s convention center instead of outside as they normally do. The government cited inclement weather after light rain earlier in the morning.

A march planned for Monday afternoon is expected to be larger than usual because of widespread opposition to recent government actions that have awakened broader fears that China is eroding Hong Kong’s freedoms.

Hong Kong Protest Demands: Drop Extradition, Free Arrested

A protester shouts next to a defaced Hong Kong emblem and a banner reads "No thug, only tyranny" after they broke into the Legislative Council building in Hong Kong, Monday, July 1, 2019. Protesters in Hong Kong took over the legislature's main building Monday night, tearing down portraits of legislative leaders and spray painting pro-democracy slogans on the walls of the main chamber.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

BY KELVIN CHAN

HONG KONG (ASSOCIATED PRESS) -- A small group of protesters smashed their way into Hong Kong’s legislature on Monday in unprecedented scenes of chaos that escalated tensions over the Chinese territory’s political future.

It came the same day that hundreds of thousands joined a peaceful annual pro-democracy march in the former British colony.

Here’s a look at the protesters’ demands:

NO TO EXTRADITION

Protesters want the government to completely scrap plans for deeply unpopular extradition bills which were the catalyst for the current tensions. Hong Kong’s Beijing-approved leader, Carrie Lam, planned to introduce legislative amendments that could be used to send suspects to mainland China for trial.

Critics of China’s ruling Communist Party said that would put people in Hong Kong at risk of torture and unfair trials in the mainland and would further chip away at the “one country, two systems” framework under which Hong Kong has been governed since Britain ceded power to China in 1997.

Faced with enormous protests last month, Lam blinked. She dropped the bills for the current legislative session but refused to formally retract them.

UNPOPULAR LEADER

Democracy supporters want Lam, who was not directly elected, to step down. It’s been a longstanding demand of the opposition in Hong Kong, where a committee of mostly pro-Beijing elite chooses the city’s leader, rather than its millions of eligible voters. Lam’s predecessor, the highly unpopular C.Y. Leung, was also the focus of calls for his resignation.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp says it wants genuine democracy so the people can choose their own leader, rather than having candidates screened by Beijing — a demand that was at the core of youth-led “Umbrella Movement” protests in 2014 that brought parts of the city to a standstill for months. It says that will help avoid repeating scenarios in which polarizing figures who plan unpopular measures are installed in the top job.

POLICE

Protesters want an independent investigation into whether Hong Kong’s police force used heavy-handed tactics during violent protests last month over the extradition bills.

Police clashed with protesters outside the legislature building, using metal batons, pepper spray, tear gas, beanbag rounds and rubber bullets. Video clips of police firing their weapons at unarmed protesters, in the city’s worst political violence since the handover, enraged Hong Kong residents. Local pro-democracy lawmakers have called for an independent inquiry into whether police used excessive force, while the police chief has defended the actions as appropriate.

RIOT

Activists demand that Hong Kong authorities free all protesters arrested in or around last month’s extradition bill protests and stop classifying it as a riot. Police have said that 32 people were arrested but that only five were accused of rioting — a serious charge that can bring prison terms of up to 10 years.

Thousands Of Recently Discovered Photographs Document Life In Uganda During Idi Amin’s Rartieign

Idi Amin playing an accordion on Buvuma Island in October 1971. Courtesy of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, Author provided

BY DEREK R. PETERSON, RICHARD VOKES

In 2015, researchers working in the storeroom at the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation forced open the lock on an unremarkable filing cabinet.

Inside were thousands of small wax envelopes, neatly arranged in rows, each containing a number of medium-format photographic negatives. In all there were 70,000 images. The vast majority of them date to the 1970s and the presidency of Idi Amin.

Amin is one of the 20th century’s most notorious dictators. In a recent PBS television series, he features alongside Kim Il Sung, Mussolini and other “Profiles in Tyranny.” In Uganda, the memory of the Amin years has been suppressed by a government keen to promote political amnesia. There are no memorials to the dead; neither are there monuments or other institutions that encourage deliberation over the Amin years.

These photographs offer one of the first opportunities for public reflection, and a small selection of them – about 150 images – are now on display at the Uganda Museum in Kampala. The exhibition, which we helped curate, is titled “The Unseen Archive of Idi Amin” and will be open until the end of 2019. For Ugandans and other visitors it is a place where a traumatic and divisive history can be assessed.

Amin’s aggressive populism
Idi Amin came to power in 1971 after overthrowing the government of Milton Obote, the president who had presided over Uganda’s independence from British colonial rule.

Obote had relied on state-run media to amplify his political power, and Amin inherited a powerful network of radio stations. The extensive reach of official media encouraged Amin and his officials to think of themselves as spokesmen for Ugandan commoners. Issues that had formerly been decided behind closed doors were discussed openly; matters that had once been determined by experts were made subject to the popular will. For some people it was hugely empowering. For others – especially for civil servants and other professionals – the Amin government’s aggressive populism was a mortal threat.

Photographers were a constant presence on the occasions when Amin and his officials addressed the public. For the whole period of his presidency, a dedicated team of photographers from Uganda’s Ministry of Information followed Amin around the country, snapping photos at press conferences, rallies, parties and other events.

As far as we know, very few of the photos they took were ever printed or published. The film was developed, and then the negatives were placed in envelopes, labeled and placed in a cabinet.

This had been, until now, an unseen archive.

Making a show of criminality

So why were these photos taken?

It seems that they served, primarily, as documentation.

Amin’s administration governed Uganda with the fervor and energy of a military campaign. It targeted otherwise obscure social issues – smuggling, overcharging consumers, the dominance of Asian business interests in the economy, the cleanliness of city streets – and transformed them into urgent political problems that demanded action.

For example, in 1972, tens of thousands of South Asians were obliged, by presidential decree, to leave Uganda. The Amin government labeled them as usurpers of black Ugandans’ economic power, a foreign minority whose usurious self-interest ran against the majority.

The cameras made the evils of usury, stealing and smuggling visible. People accused of criminal acts were paraded before the cameras, with crowds often gathered to witness the occasion. There, the evidence was laid out for all to see. Here are jerrycans full of smuggled paraffin, arranged in long rows; there are neat piles of hoarded cash, signifying the evil of South Asians’ dominance of the economy; there are bottles of gin, stacked up around an accused smuggler.

The camera brought the judgment of the Ugandan commonwealth to bear in specific times and in specific places. In the presence of photographers, campaigners could show themselves to be acting in the interest of the majority. In the presence of a camera, the struggles and exertions of the decade could be seen as historically consequential.

The Amin government’s photographers were part of a media ensemble that helped craft a narrative of meaning, direction and national purpose to the age. That’s why so many Ugandans found reason to support the Amin government. The presence of cameras at public events transformed mundane and forgettable occasions into moments in a chronicle of national struggle. Many people felt as if they were acting in the light of history.

What the cameras didn’t capture

While there’s a richness to the documentary nature of the photographs, there are very few that capture the harsh realities of daily life in Uganda in the 1970s, such as unaccountable violence, a collapsing infrastructure and shortages of the most basic commodities.

As many as 300,000 people died at the hands of men serving Amin’s government. This violence – the torture and murder of dissidents, criminals and others who fell afoul of the state – largely took place out of public view, and there’s no trace of it the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation archive.

In 1979, the Amin regime was overthrown by a force of Ugandan exiles and Tanzanian troops. Since then, there have been scant opportunities for Ugandans to learn about Amin’s presidency. After a decades-long exile in Saudi Arabia, Amin died in 2003. His remains are still buried there, awaiting repatriation to Uganda.

Debate around his legacy is only now finding a place in Uganda’s public life. So the thousands of recently discovered negatives – which were digitized as part of a preservation project organized by the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, the University of Michigan and the University of Western Australia – are significant historical documents.

But when designing the Uganda Museum exhibition, we agonized over the absence of images that reveal suffering and death as facts of life in the 1970s. So we made an effort to present the photos in a way that acknowledges their status as instruments of Amin’s political self-interest.

In one part of the exhibition, we juxtaposed photos of the momentous events of public life with portraits of deceased people. In another part of the show, we highlighted particular episodes – the expulsion of the Asian community, the Economic Crimes Tribunal, the crackdown on smuggling – during which innocent people became victims of the regime. At the end of the exhibition, we put on display images of government torture chambers.

The exhibition opened in mid-May this year with a series of panels featuring people whose lives were intertwined with the Amin regime. The opening panel featured politicians who served in Amin’s cabinet; on another night, journalists who covered his governmentdiscussed their work; on a third evening, we heard from people who had lost loved ones in the hands of his thugs.

We had intended to convene a fourth panel where Idi Amin’s family members would discuss their memories of their father. But 15 minutes before we were to go on the air, they announced that they would no longer participate. They thought the exhibition didn’t adequately acknowledge their father’s achievements.

Their reluctance to speak highlights the tensions that undergird public discussion around the Amin regime today.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Reducing The Number Of Out-Of-School Children In Nigeria

Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children. Image: Reuters

BY GABRIEL CHY ALONTA
The alarming increase in the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria needs urgent attention by the government and other education stakeholders. A recent report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) revealed that Nigeria has a surprising 13.2 million out-of-schoolchildren, the highest figure the world over. Gabriel Chy Alonta examines this shocking development in the acclaimed giant of Africa and the way out of the trend.

It is a sad development that, over the course of just five years, the number of out-of-school children has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million. Nigeria, ranked as having the highest such figure in the world, needs to make concerted effort to deal with this embarrassing statistic and get our children back to school for their intellectual development and the ultimate good of this society.

Tackling this issue should, ordinarily, be the major focus of discussions in the nation, especially at such occasions like Children’s Day celebration in Nigeria and similar ones like the International Day of Families and Global Day of Parents. The Nigerian Children’s Day celebration would have been more fruitfully celebrated with such discussions instead of the vainglory of march pasts and other exhibitions for the few privileged children in school.

Recall that Section 15 (1) of the Child’s Rights Act as captured in Cap. C50, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, bestows on every Nigerian child the right to free and compulsory basic education.

According to the provisions of the Act, every child has the right to free, compulsory and universal basic education the provision of which shall be the duty of the government of Nigeria. Every parent or guardian shall ensure that his child or ward attends and completes his/her primary school education and junior secondary education.

The Act also provides that every parent, guardian or person who has the care and custody of a child who has completed basic education, shall (read ‘must’) endeavour to send that child to senior secondary school except, as provided for in subsection 4 of the section; the child shall be encouraged to learn an appropriate trade and the employer of the child shall provide the necessities for learning the trade.

It is, therefore, obvious that Nigeria has laws that protect the interests of the child, especially their right to free and compulsory education as indicated in the Act. This law also implies that there should never be any circumstance under which a child is not enrolled in school to acquire basic education.

To what extent do Nigerian governments at the various levels, parents and guardians comply with the provisions of that Child’s Right Act? Have the governments and parents done enough to implement this Act? Why are there an outrageous 13.2 million of out-of-school children in Nigeria?

The Education Chief, UNICEF, Terry Durnnian, was quoted as saying that the world would not help Nigeria to solve the problem of out-of-school children if it does not solve it by itself.

“The number of out-of-school children calls for serious concern. Nigeria should take on the challenge of reducing out of school children. UNICEF will only lead and support the process of reducing out of school children”, he said. He said Nigeria accounts for more than one in five out-of-school children and 45 per cent of out-of-school children in West Africa.

Available statistics from United Nations show that about eight million children in 10 of Nigeria’s states do not go to school. The UN children’s fund also revealed that the average school enrolment rate in these areas was just 50 per cent and that the majority of those out of school are girls; the states most affected are in northern Nigeria.

Most fingers are pointing to northern Nigeria, particularly the North-East, as having the highest number of out-of-school children and critics have attributed this unfortunate scenario to the terrorist attacks in the north.

UNICEF said that more than 10 million children were unable to access safe education, largely due to an Islamist insurgency in the northern part of the country where hundreds of girls and boys have been abducted from their schools by Boko Haram jihadists.

Experts have also noted that over the last few years, Nigeria has been besieged by Boko Haram and lots of children have been put out of school, thus impeding the socio-economic progress of the country. They emphasised on the importance of engaging traditional rulers, who are custodians of culture to help in tackling the high incidence of out-of-school children.

According to the chairman, House Committee on Education, Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon. Timothy Ifedioramma, there is need for increased enlightenment on the dangers of school dropout. He regretted that, despite the efforts of the state government to reduce the number of out-of-school children, the situation keeps worsening.

Ifedioramma said that the rise in cases of school dropout in the state was usually eclipsed by the high performance of the state in external examinations, revealing that Anambra, indeed, had a significant number of out-of-school children parading the streets.

“Until we identify that this problem exists in our state, we will not get it right. We are always quick to look at the North to say that they are mostly affected, but we need to tackle our own problem to reduce the percentage in the long run. Education is not all about the government. It has to do with parents, society and other stakeholders; we all should contribute to the solution”, he said.

He recalled that despite the federal government’s School Feeding Programme, aimed at attracting out-of-the-school children back to school, the number kept increasing.

The house committee chairman harped on the need to re-engineer the society and increase the value of education, adding that “we are losing the value for education and encouragement that should be given to the younger ones to see education as really the foundation for success”.

Similarly, many of those who thought that the school feeding programme initiated by the Buhariadministration would lure out-of-school children back to school may have been proven wrong due to failure of the programme to yield the desired goal. Critics also argued that the programme was compromised. According to them, many of those who were assigned to manage the programme across the states of the federation failed to utilise the funds provided them for the project, and rather channelled it to their selfish interests.

Others were of the opinion that the failure of the school feeding project was a result of the lackadaisical attitude adopted by government towards supervising the implementation of the programme. They averred that the government did not do much to ensure that the project was optimally implemented.

It would also be recalled that the outgoing minister of education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, had during his valedictory press conference, admitted that the federal government failed in the last four years to fulfil its promise of reducing the population of out-of-school children by half, and regretted the worsening situation of the education sector which, instead of improving significantly, has deteriorated, to the dismay of watchers and stakeholders of the sector.

Also, reports in many rural communities in the Federal Capital Territory, revealed that most parents refuse to send their children to school despite the fact of the free basic education available to them The major but curious reason given by these parents was that their children were not born to go to school but to help them on their farms. They also attributed their decision to abject poverty and lack of basic life’s necessities.

It won’t be out of context to attribute government’s failure to tackle the teeming number of out-of-school children to outright negligence of the education sector. This given the lack of the much-needed attention, especially in terms of funding. The incessant industrial actions embarked upon by academic unions at different levels of education are ready proofs of this assertion.

Also, the United Nations’ recommendation that 26 per cent of the annual national budget of a country be assigned to education, has been grossly neglected by the Nigeria government, who only allocates a little above 7 per cent of the country’s budget.

There is the need to increase the budgetary allocation for the education sector, at least, to 15 per cent to better fight infrastructural deficiencies and other rots in the sector. There is also need to re-emphasise that universal basic education is free, requiring the little contribution of parents through the Parents Teachers Association scheme.

Just last week, President Muhammadu Buhari, at the inauguration of the National Economic Council (NEC) for the year 2019-2023, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, declared that “it is now (a) crime for parents to keep children out of school or deny them basic education.”

He also stressed the need to take very seriously and enforce very rigorously the statutory provisions on free and compulsory basic education. He noted that the first nine years of basic education were crucial for the development of any child and thus could not be toyed with.

The president urged state governors to make a firm commitment to be personally involved in ensuring that every child of school age actually went to school throughout the crucial nine years of basic education.

The extent to which federal government will implement this resolution remains unknown as there are fears already that it will end up as one of the several lip-service projects associated to the regime. The need to curb the number of out-of-school children certainly requires a concerted effort from all the relevant educational stakeholders. All hands must, therefore be on deck.

SOURCE: ORIENT DAILY

Mackenzie Lueck Killing: Cell Phone Photos And Rideshare Helped Lead To Arrest

Mackenzie Lueck/Facebook

 BY MADELINE HOLCOMBE, SCOTT MCLEAN

SALT LAKE CITY (CNN) -- Cell phones and social media were at the heart of the investigation that led to an arrest in the case of a University of Utah student who vanished two weeks ago.

Investigators tracking her cell phone discovered that 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck and the man expected to be charged with her murder were both in the park where she was last seen on June 17 within a minute of one another.

That was around the time Lueck's phone stopped receiving data or location services, police said

Ayoola Ajayi, 31, was arrested Friday and is expected to be charged with aggravated murder. He also faces charges of aggravated kidnapping, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body, according to Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown.

Police find her pictures on his phone

After Lueck disappeared, the suspect originally denied knowing what she looked like, Brown said. But several pictures of her were found on his phone, and the "digital footprint" has continued even after the arrest, police said.

An Instagram account that Lueck's sorority sister confirmed belongs to the missing student followed another user on or about Wednesday, CNN verified.

Brown confirmed that investigators are looking into the activity on the account.

"This is a digital forensic investigation," he said. "This is covering computers, cell phones, IP addresses, URLs, texting apps."

Forensic evidence is also discovered

But the investigation is not just limited to digital footprints.

Investigators also found forensic evidence after they searched Ajayi's home and property Wednesday, police said. As they did, his neighbors told police they saw him using gasoline to burn something in his backyard on June 17 and 18, Brown said.

Police said the search yielded multiple items of evidence.

"A forensic excavation of the burn area was conducted, which resulted in the finding of several charred items that were consistent with personal items of Mackenzie Lueck," Brown told reporters.

Police also discovered charred material that was determined to be female human tissue consistent with Lueck's DNA profile, he said. A mattress investigators have been trying to find has been located, police tweeted Friday night, without providing additional details.

She stopped communicating about 3 a.m.

Lueck texted her parents at 1 a.m. on June 17 when she landed at Salt Lake City International Airport, police said. She was seen on airport surveillance walking through baggage claim before taking Lyft to Hatch Park.

The Lyft driver said she did not appear to be in distress, according to Salt Lake City police assistant chief Tim Doubt.

Police said Friday that all communications with Lueck's phone ceased around 3 a.m. that morning -- the same time they said she left the park with the suspect.

Phone records showed her last communication was with the suspect, Brown said. Her family and friends did not see or hear from her after that morning. Her sorority sister told CNN affiliate KSL that Lueck had also missed exams.

"She's extremely dedicated," Ashley Fine told the TV station. "She would never miss her midterms or anything like that. She hasn't been home. She didn't show up to work, or anything."

A suspect is arrested

After the suspect's arrest Friday, Brown contacted her parents to tell them the news. They were "devastated and heartbroken by this news," he said.

"This is one of the most difficult phone calls I've ever made," he said.

The suspect lived about five miles from the park where Lueck was last seen.

According to his LinkedIn page, he is a former information technology specialist for the US Army and recently worked for Dell and Goldman Sachs. CNN has reached out to the US Army and Dell for comment.

Police Arrest Ayoola Ajayi, Man Suspected Of Killing Utah College Student

ADDS ID OF SUSPECT AND CHARGES - Salt Lake City police take Ayoola A. Ajayi into custody in connection with missing University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck in Salt Lake City on Friday, June 28, 2019. Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said, Friday that Ajayi was being charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping and desecration of a body in the death of 23-year-old student. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah college student missing 11 days was abducted and killed and her remains burned in the yard of a man now facing aggravated murder and other charges, authorities said Friday.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown, who became emotional at times during a morning press conference, said Ayoola A. Ajayi will be charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, obstruction of justice and desecration of a body in the death of 23-year-old Mackenzie Lueck.

He was arrested without incident Friday morning by a SWAT team.

Ajayi, 31, is an information technology worker who attended college on and off but never earned a degree and was briefly in the Army National Guard but didn’t complete basic training.

He doesn’t have a criminal record, according to online court information, but a northern Utah police department said he was accused of a rape in 2014. Police investigated but the alleged victim, an adult woman, declined to pursue charges, North Park police said in a news release.

Brown said telling the missing woman’s parents in Southern California was “one of the most difficult phone calls I’ve ever made.” Her parents are “devastated and heartbroken by this news.”

Lueck disappeared on June 17, after she returned from a trip home for her grandmother’s funeral and took a Lyft ride from the airport to a park north of Salt Lake City. She was last seen apparently willingly meeting someone there at about 3 a.m.

Her text conversation with Ajayi was her last communication and phone location data shows them both at the park within a minute of each other, Brown said.

“This was the same time as Mackenzie’s phone stopped receiving any further data or location services,” he said.

He declined to say whether or how exactly they knew each other. Ajayi has acknowledged texting with Lueck around 6 p.m. on June 16, but denied talking to her later, knowing what she looked like or having seen any online profile for her — despite having several photos, including a profile picture, Brown said.

The police chief said investigators were seeking to determine if others were involved. A second person was questioned at the time of his arrest and later released, Brown said.

Police have not discussed a motive for the killing, or specified a cause of death. A judge ordered Ajayi held without bail. It was not known if he has an attorney to speak on his behalf. He had not returned previous messages from The Associated Press prior to his arrest.

After discovering that Ajayi was the last person Lueck communicated with, police searched his home on Wednesday and Thursday. Police Thursday described him as a “person of interest.”

In his backyard, they said they found a “fresh dig area,” and charred items that belonged to Lueck. They also found burned human remains that matched her DNA profile, Brown said.

Ajayi has worked in information technology for several companies including Dell and Goldman Sachs, according to his LinkedIn page. Goldman Sachs confirmed he worked as a contract employee for less than a year at the Salt Lake City office ending in August 2018. Dell said Ajayi had worked there but didn’t provide his dates of employment.

Ajayi also appeared to have pursued employment in modeling with a bio page on a website called modelmanagement.com. Court records show he is divorced.

Lueck was a part-time senior at the University of Utah studying kinesiology and pre-nursing, and was expected to graduate in Spring 2020. She had been a student since 2014 and had an off-campus apartment. The university offered counseling services to any students or staffers affected by her death.

She is from El Segundo in the Los Angeles area and flew to California for a funeral before returning to Salt Lake City, police said. Her family reported her missing on June 20 and became more concerned after she missed a planned flight back to Los Angeles last weekend.

Lueck’s uncle, who did not provide his name at the police press conference, held back tears as he read a statement from her family thanking the investigators for their work.

“They’re also grateful to her community, her friends and others around the nation who have supported this investigation,” he said.

She was a bubbly, nurturing person who helped others and took care of animals like guinea pigs, hedgehogs and cats, friends have said. They did not respond to requests for comment after the arrest was announced.

Lueck’s sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, said in a statement the group is grieving her loss and hoping the members closest to her can find comfort as they remember her lasting impact on her loved ones.

Associated Press writers Brady McCombs and Morgan Smith contributed to this report.