Influential Women to Watch in Buhari’s Govt

Nigerian First Lady-elect Aisha Buhari.

MAY 2, 2015
FISAYO FALODI
Nigerian Punch

The forthcoming Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government will, like the current administration, parade many women believed to be influential, FISAYO FALODI writes

The outgoing administration of President Goodluck Jonathan boasts of an array of influential women, who command much respect even among their male counterparts. Apart from the President’s wife, Dame Patience Jonathan, who pundit said was always interested in official matters and those who get elective and appointive positions, it was said that the influence of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, made Jonathan’s administration popular.

The two ministers currently head sensitive ministries in Jonathan’s government.

Likewise, the inauguration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s new President on May 29 will throw up another set of influential women. Some of the women were believed to have invested their energy in the March 28 pre-election campaigns in which the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate won.

The women, parading what may be described as robust credentials, braved all odds to contest in elections like their male counterparts to represent the people of their various political constituencies or districts.

A few of them, according to observers, will wield a lot of influence in the incoming administration by the virtue of their positions as the wives of the President or vice-president, while others will hold sway because of the offices they occupy in the APC executive committee.

Aisha Buhari

The 44-year-old wife of the President-elect, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, will automatically become the country’s new First Lady on May 29 after her husband’s inauguration.

The Adamawa State born cosmetologist attended the famous Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration.

Though some people have described the member of the United Kingdom Vocational Training and Charitable Trust and the International Health and Beauty Council as an introvert, she is said to be a consummate politician and strong believer in the project Nigeria. The alumnus of the famous Carlton Institute of London and the Academy Esthetique Beauty Institute of France did tell everyone during the pre-election campaigns that her husband, if elected, would give women opportunities to contribute to the development of the country.

Hajiya Buhari demonstrated her passion for the development of Nigerian women at a campaign rally recently in Edo State, where she assured women that her husband would initiate policies that would guarantee their improved living standard.

She said, “I am here to let Edo women know that when my husband is elected into office as President, insecurity, the girl-child trafficking, the plight of the widows in the South-East will be looked into.

“There must be a cultural design that can accommodate the widow. A design that would make the girl-child comfortable wherever she is in this country.

“The portion of the girl-child is to have a high standard and moral society for her to live in, get married, have children, train them and also mould them to become future leaders.”

Dolapo Osinbajo

Little was known about Dolapo Osinbajo until her husband emerged as the APC vice-presidential candidate.

The grand-child of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, is the leader of the Ladies Fellowship of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Jesus House Paris, Banana Island, Lagos.

Described as humble and submissive wife by those who are close to her family, she supported her husband in 2007 to establish “The Orderly Society Trust,” a non- governmental organisation dedicated to the promotion of Christian ethics and orderliness.

While others sought political offices to touch the people’s lives, Mrs. Osinbajo yearned for a different avenue to reach the larger society, especially the poor. She therefore wrote and launched a book, “They Call Me Mama.”

She said the drive to write the book came from her experiences with some “street boys and men in Lagos State.” According to her, she aims to use the proceeds from the book to sustain her efforts in getting the street urchins off the roads and into homes. Mrs. Osinbajo said, “My weekly visit to the boys in their hideout under the bridge for several years has filled me with unforgettable stories. Reminiscences of these times are the focus of this book. Our original meeting spot which was lovingly referred to as ‘Under’, today; it has been transformed to the Muri Okunola Park.

“To me, they are beloved children and they call me ‘Mama.’ They are lost, but can be found. That was why I was compelled to write the book and I dedicate the book to everyone who is lost.”

Remi Tinubu

The senator representing Lagos Central is an educationist, administrator, philanthropist and Officer of the Order of the Niger. She was described as exemplary First Lady of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007 during which period she founded the New Era Foundation; a non-profit organisation, dedicated to youth development, girl-child education, women empowerment and inspiring youths to excellence.

It was believed that Tinubu’s re-election into the senate in the just concluded general elections would make her become more influential in the next government as she may head one of the sensitive committees in the upper legislative chambers.

As a senator, she hosts a quarterly town hall meeting with her constituents to render accounts of her stewardship and obtain feedbacks on their developmental needs. To date, she has sponsored three bills to provide Social Security for Elderly Citizens; seek the Amendment of the Labour Act to enhance employment opportunities for women and a bill to provide Special Economic Assistance to Lagos State in view of its status as a former capital city and the commercial capital of Nigeria.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Affairs, is also considered as a force to reckon with in the forthcoming administration.

The dexterity with which she coordinated the APC presidential campaign alongside a senator-elect, Dino Melaye, had endeared her to the party.

Dabiri-Erewa was first elected into the House of Representatives to represent Ikorodu Constituency of Lagos State in 2003 and re-elected in 2007. She also won re-election in 2011.

The former Chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity, had sponsored a number of significant bills that were passed by the Parliament, including the Freedom of Information Bill; a bill for an act to ensure full integration of Nigerians with physical disabilities and eliminate all forms of discrimination against them; the Nigerian Infant Health Welfare Bill (ensuring every child under five receives free medical care); Nigerian Diaspora Commission Bill; a bill to repeal Nigerian Press Council Bill and replace it with the Nigerian Press and Journalism Council Bill (strengthening the NPC and promote responsible journalism and protect the welfare of journalists in Nigeria).

Dabiri-Erewa did not contest for any elective office in the just concluded general elections; observers are of the opinion that her performance as Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora as well as her activities during the APC campaign will earn her an enviable position in the incoming cabinet.

Hajiya Ramatu Aliyu

The President-General of the Global Women & Youth Empowerment Strategy will no doubt command much respect in Buhari’s administration by the virtue of her position as the APC Woman Leader.

Like her woman colleagues, Ramatu Aliyu, sunk herself in APC’s activities to ensure that the party wins the last presidential election.

Aliyu demonstrated her commitment to the party by mobilising the electorate, especially women, to collect their Permanent Voter Cards.

“The collection of the PVCs represents a veritable instrument to ensure that the people, to whom power resides, exercise their franchise in the legitimate pursuit of free choice and popular sovereignty,” Aliyu had said in a statement in Abuja.

Having capitalised on the numerical strength of Nigerian women, the APC Woman Leader told the women before the election that without the sacred power to vote in a democracy, they could hardly effect the change which they desire for the sake of their collective happiness and fulfilment.

He said, “Nigerian women constitute over 50 per cent of active voters during elections in the country. It is therefore, important that they avail themselves of the historic opportunity offered by the exercise to strengthen their electoral value and consolidate their demographic advantage, especially as we approach the 2015 general elections.

“Accordingly, I call on Nigerian women to rise in unison and ensure their active participation in the exercise. They should troop out en-mass and ensure that they collect their PVCs so that their votes will not only count but make the difference during elections.

“I urge that in the prevailing circumstance, our women should reaffirm their faith in democratic change and strengthen their resolve to enthrone good governance rooted in popular franchise, free and fair elections and robust democratic engagement.”

Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan

Though the Independent National Electoral Commission declared that the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Mr. Darius Ishaku, won the Taraba State governorship election, the APC candidate in the poll, Senator Aisha Alhassan, has demonstrated that she is a force to reckon with.

Alhassan’s popularity grew after she defeated three male aspirants to clinch the APC governorship ticket at the party’s primary held at Jolly Nyame Stadium, Jalingo, amid heavy security.

If Al-Hassan had won the Taraba State governorship election, she would have become the first woman to be elected governor in the political history of the country.

Al-Hassan, a lawyer by training, rose to become Taraba State’s Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice. She was appointed the Chief Registrar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on December 17, 2003.

After she retired from service, she won election on the PDP platform to represent Taraba North Senatorial District in 2011, but defected to APC to seek the latter’s governorship ticket ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Contact: editor@punchng.com

We’re Hopeful They’ll Return Someday –Chibok Mothers

MAY 2, 2015
JESUSEGUN ALAGBE
Nigerian Punch

It took her about five minutes to finally utter her first few words when she sat with our correspondent in a church building in Anthony, Lagos during the week, depression clearly written all over her face. It was about a year ago, precisely April 14, that she got the news – just like over 200 other mothers – while returning from the farm that Boko Haram insurgents had kidnapped her daughter from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State.

On the day she was leaving their hometown, Mbalala, for school, Hauwa Musa, 17, promised her mother that she would end her suffering someday: she would go to school, study hard for exams, gain admission to a tertiary institution and get a good job in the end of it all. However, it’s the 383rd day since she was kidnapped with her colleagues, but her memory still lingers on in the heart of her mother.

Mary Musa, Hauwa’s mother, who came to Lagos for medical treatment on the bill of a non-governmental organisation, has been facing many internal and external battles ever since the incident. But maybe she had a premonition of them all before they even started.

She said, “During the height of the insurgency, she came home from school one day and after a while, she said she was going back again because their exam was drawing nearer. I think it was an emergency when they were called to resume back to school. She demanded for some items, but I told her I could not afford them. I promised her that after a while, I would send those things to her, but behold my plight now!

“Usually, anytime she was going to school, I wouldn’t accompany her, but that day, I helped her carry her things to the park. I called an okada rider that would take her to the park and we climbed the motorcycle together. I pleaded with her, ‘Please bear with me, I’ll send those things you asked for later.’ It’s a N500 drive from Mbalala to Chibok. I never knew that would be our last conversation. That was in March. She never told me what she wanted to become in life, but she’s a hardworking girl and I know she could have made it in life. She is beautiful and strong.”

Musa has, perhaps just like the mothers of the other girls, been expectant of her daughter’s return someday, but long patience, they say, wearies the soul.

She added, “Since my daughter was taken along with others, I’ve always been thinking of what could have possibly happened to her. I have not had good night rests. I don’t have appetite for food anymore. Our house was burnt by the insurgents. Our farm was destroyed. My husband and I sleep in an uncompleted building in our hometown now. I have been living in fear. I am trusting God that someday, she will return. Each day I sleep, I see her in my dreams. Yesterday also, I saw her again in my dream. She came out of a gate and I was calling her to come. She answered me twice, ‘Here I am, mother; here I am mother.’ I know she’ll be back with her friends.

“Many people say we have been sent help, but as far as I am concerned, I have not received any help from anyone. My husband has been bedridden for months because we used to sleep outside. He was infected with pneumonia and there was no hospital to take him to. He cannot walk and eat. Some people have also been using our plight for their gains and we are unhappy about this development.

“For instance, some people would say they want to help us, would then come to take our pictures, videos and we would not see them again. They would promise they would bring help, but we’ve not seen any. They would take our data, but we are yet to see any result whatsoever. I think this is not fair. We are suffering, yet some people are making fortunes out of our predicament.”

Mary is however determined to make her daughter succeed, despite all the challenges. When Hauwa is released from the hands of the Boko Haram, “I will send her back to school, but not in Chibok again,” she said.

Hanatu Dauda, whose daughter, Saratu Dauda, was also abducted on April 14, 2014 by Boko Haram, also had a sad tale to tell Saturday PUNCH. Though she barely looked up as she narrated her ordeal in the past one year, one could rightly guess that her heart was up in the heavens – silently praying for the release of her daughter.

Moreover, when she heard that about 200 girls had been rescued from one of Boko Haram’s strongholds, Sambisa forest, she was ecstatic, but that wouldn’t stay for long as the Nigerian Army confirmed that the girls were not the ones from Chibok.

Also from Mbalala community, she has had to grapple with the fact that her daughter was missing – but hopeful that her release was imminent.

“The girl told me she would continue to pray for me and that when she finished schooling, she would end all my suffering. She promised she would assist all her siblings to become great people in life because she’s the only one we could send to school,” Dauda said. “She said she would keep praying for me. During holidays, she loved learning to sow and design clothes. I think she wanted to become a fashion designer. She instructed me to plant groundnut before she left for school in March 2014 so that when she returned, she would buy a sewing machine to start preparing for her passion.”

The 45-year-old said she was not expecting any financial assistance from the government except for the release of her daughter from Boko Haram.

She said, “We are not looking for government’s money, but our daughters. And then we want peace in our land again. We want our daughters, we want security; we want our lives back. Our girls were entrusted into the hands of the government to keep them safe, but they failed them.

“Apart from my daughter, I know other girls that used to go to farms and work as labourers. It’s from there some of them were able to pay their school fees. My daughter would have turned 19 this year, but we are sad we won’t witness it and she too wouldn’t be able to celebrate it. I have been crying every day. The government promised to rescue our daughters many times, but they have not fulfilled their promise.”

With the news of the rescue of 200 girls and 93 women from Sambisa forest late Tuesday, many people thought they were perhaps the Chibok girls who were kidnapped from their school on April 14 last year and Hanatu had thought her daughter would be among the rescued, but alas, they were not!

However, a civil rights lawyer based in Abuja, Mr. Jide Oluyemi, implored the Nigerian military to do more in rescuing the Chibok girls same way they rescued the 200 during the week.

He told our correspondent on the phone that if the security forces could invade Sambisa forest, they could as well raid anywhere else.

“Do what is right for our girls to come back. I believe the incoming administration should also continue from where President Goodluck Jonathan will stop in terms of security to avert another crisis like this forever. Nigerians want action,” he said.

Also, Mrs. Doris Yaro, the founder of Gabasawa Women and Children Initiative, the NGO that brought Mary and Hanatu to Lagos for treatment, implored the Federal Government to see to the welfare of the Chibok mothers, while still searching for their daughters.

She said, “We brought them to Lagos where they could have access to better health care facilities for treatment. Some of them have been diagnosed with pneumonia, ulcer and others, but we have been taking them to a private hospital for treatment.

“When I went to Chibok to meet them when the incident just occurred, some of the women were really suffering. They were down and depressed. While some surrogate mothers were carrying placards in Abuja, the real mothers were in their communities, weeping.

“The government should do more to help bring relief to these people. When the girls are found, the Chibok mothers would be happy to smile and live happily again.”

Likewise, an advocate of the BringBackOurGirls group, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has said the fight for the release of the Chibok girls would continue until they are found. Just after thanking the military for their rescue operation that saved 293 girls and women on Tuesday, she said the Chibok ones also should not be forgotten.

“What are we demanding? What are we asking for? The Chibok girls! They are never to be forgotten. We are inspired ever more to press on for the rescue of our 219 Chibok girls. The Federal Government must spare no effort to bring back our girls,” she wrote on her Twitter page late Tuesday.

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Contact: editor@punchng.com

Jonathan Snubs Nigerian Workers on May Day

May Day demonstration in Lagos, Nigeria.

by Olufemi Adeosun, Rotimi Fadeyi, Abuja and Olalekan Adejuwon
Nigerian National Mirror
Lagos on May 2, 2015

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday failed to attend this year’s May Day celebration to the consternation of workers who had waited patiently at the Eagle Square in Abuja. It is the first time the president would be absent from the Workers’ Day celebration since he was elected in 2011.

Although no official reason was given for his absence, a source at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, who pleaded anonymity, told our reporter that it was not unconnected with the factionalisation in the labour union.

“You know there was this issue of factionalisation in the leadership of the congress and attending the rally will look like the president is in support of one faction or the other”, the source said.

Efforts to get the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, on phone yesterday to find out why the president was absent at the rally was not successful. While the Comrade Ayuba Wabba-led faction held its rally in Abuja, the Joe Ajaero-led group held its own in Lagos.

In Abuja, as early as 6:am., anti-riot policemen and other para-military forces had condoned all roads leading to the Eagle Square, venue of the May Day event, and men of the secret service were seen combing the venue, apparently to provide adequate security to the number one citizen.

As at 11:30 when it was almost certain that the president would not make it to the event, the workers who had trooped out enmasse to grace the occasion were seen discussing in hush tones why the president could have decided to snub them.

However, Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Joel Ikenya, was introduced as representing the president. But it was obvious the presidency did not prepare any speech to be read on behalf of the president by the Minister of Labour and Productivity.

The minister’s speech was however later withdrawn by the minister’s aides and was not made available to journalists. There were also the Minister and Minister of State for FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, and Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, both of whom are close allies of the president in attendance.

The schism in the organisation became glaring on March 14 during the congress of the NLC when at exactly 12.47am, at the Eagles Square in Abuja, the President of Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Wabba Ayuba, was proclaimed winner of the election to replace outgoing president, Abdulwaheed Omar.

In a swift reaction, Ayuba’s closest rival, Joe Ajaero, in company of some of the candidates that lost out in the election, announced Friday, March 20, 2015 as a date for a fresh ‘special delegates’ conference in Lagos, where perceived ‘wrongs’ in the Abuja election would be addressed. With the development, the route to NLC having a factional leadership after years of unity of purpose may have been paved.

Meanwhile, the Congress directed its members to stay away from the ‘special delegates’ conference. A statement signed in Abuja by the NLC’s General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo- Eson, said the conference was influenced by individuals driven by inordinate ambition and vain glory.

He therefore advised all affiliate unions of the Labour body to steer clear of the conference. But Ajaero accused the immediate past president of NLC, Omar, and the Chairman of the NLC Credentials Committee, Isah Fagge, and Dangiwa of supervising a ‘troubled process’.

On March 19 at a parallel election held in Lagos which upheld the election of Ajaero of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, as a parallel president, the NLC finally split into two, parading two presidents.

The theme of this year’s May Day celebration held in Abuja is: “The Working Class, Democratic Consolidation and Economic Revival: Charting the Way to National Economic Rebirth.” Speaking at the occasion, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, stated that Nigerian workers would hold the incoming administration responsible for its electoral promises to the people.

He said congress had begun the process of collating its thoughts on how the Gen. Muhammadu Buhariled administration would impact positively on the Nigerian economy, particularly the working people and would present the document to him as soon as he assumes office.

His words: “We look forward to presenting our positions to General Buhari when we eventually meet with him as soon as he assumes office.

However, we must seize this moment to make pronouncement on a few urgent national issues: Social Issues: Social challenges facing the Nigerian workers are many but it appears that most compelling are uncertainties in the work place.”

In his own speech, the Trade Union Congress President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, urged the incoming administration to fight corruption and all economic crimes, stressing the malaise were responsible for the underdevelopment of the country.

However, an attempt to hold a parallel rally at the National Stadium, Surulere by the Comrade Ajaero Joseph’s led NLC was thwarted by the Lagos State Police Command which used tear-gas to despatch them.

Ajaero, leading a factional group consisting of Comrade Issa Aremu of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) and Comrade Igwe Achese of the National Union of Petroleum & National Gas (NUPENG), regrouped on the access road leading to the National Stadium to hold the May Day celebration.

The procession led to serious gridlock as motorists spent hours on the road. Saturday Mirror reliably gathered that the congress had made prior arrangement with the Lagos State Government and had written to the Lagos State Police for their support in providing adequate security for the workers.

Boko Haram: Troops Free Another 234 Women, Children From Sambisa

by UBONG UKPONG on May 2, 2015
Nigerian National Mirror

Troops of the Nigerian military in the ongoing operations in Sambisa forest, Borno State, have rescued another set of 234 women and children.

In an update yesterday, on the operations, the Defence Headquarters, DHQ,, through its Director of Defence Information, DDI, Maj-Gen. Chris Olukolade, said the additional set of victims were rescued on Thursday by the daring troops in the forest.

The DHQ further said that the troops were intensifying their assaults on the forest with the aim of rescuing all innocent civilians and destroying the camps and facilities of terrorists in the forest.

The troops had on Tuesday afternoon, freed 200 girls and 93 women, with an additional undisclosed numbers later announced by the Nigerian Army, bringing the total number of Boko Haram victims rescued from Sambisa between Tuesday and Thursday to over 600.

According to the DHQ, “Another set of 234 women and children were rescued through the Kawuri and Konduga end of Sambisa forest on Thursday. “They have been evacuated to join others at the place of ongoing screening.

“This set is in addition to the previous individuals earlier rescued during the ongoing operation in the area.

”The assault on the forest is continuing from various fronts and efforts are concentrated on rescuing hostages of civilians and destroying all terrorists camps and facilities in the forest.”

Nigerian Labor Party Faults Buhari’s Transition Committee

By Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja on May 1, 2015

THE Labour Party (LP) yesterday expressed concern over membership of the transition committee inaugurated by President-elect, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, arguing that the composition of the committee has also raised doubts over the capability of Buhari to fight corruption as he promised during his campaigns.

National Chairman of the party, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, said that President-elect Buhari may fail in his crusade to tackle corruption in the country because of the people he has surrounded himself with as well as the integrity of those that are going to the Senate.

Abdulsalm, who spoke with journalists in Abuja yesterday, noted that those he called Buhari’s first eleven were men with questionable financial records, adding that majority of the 16 governors that are going to the Senate had cases with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He said: “Buhari during his campaigns gave timeline on when to expect miracles from them and we expect them to keep to their words. However, our fears are that Buhari may have the capacity to fight corruption, but looking at the first eleven that surrounds him, we doubt if he can.

He has to first investigate the source of their wealth. He has to have the capacity to investigate their source of income so that Nigerians will truly believe that he is serious in his fight against corruption.

“Imagine, the man he chose to lead his transition team, former Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State appeared in court only yesterday to answer to corruption charges.

This is a minus for a man who wants to fight corruption and most disturbing is that as of today, 16 former governors who have cases with the EFCC are going to be in the Senate.

Those who have broken the laws of this land are now going to the Senate to make laws for the land.” On partnership with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulsalam said: “We are going to start very soon to see how the party and NLC work together.

Nigerian workers already understand that the party belongs to them. When the NLC comes in, things are likely to change. The problem we have today is that NLC in every state of the federation supports the party in their respective states. That is why we are relating with the NLC and correcting this anomaly.”

Nigerian Army Rescues 300 Women and Girls, None From Chibok

AP on April 29, 2015

Nigerian troops rescued nearly 300 girls and women during an offensive Tuesday against Boko Haram militants in the northeastern Sambisa Forest, the military said, but they did not include any of the schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok a year ago.

The army announced the rescue on Twitter and said it was screening and interviewing the abducted girls and women.

Troops destroyed and cleared four militant camps and rescued 200 abducted girls and 93 women “but they are not the Chibok girls,” army spokesman Col. Sani Usman told The Associated Press.

Nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from the northeastern town of Chibok by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram in April 2014. The militants took the schoolgirls in trucks into the Sambisa Forest. Dozens escaped, but 219 remain missing.

The plight of the schoolgirls, who have become known as “the Chibok girls,” aroused international outrage and a campaign for their release under the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

Their kidnapping brought Boko Haram to the attention of the world, with even U.S. first lady Michelle Obama becoming involved as she tweeted a photograph of herself holding the campaign sign.

Boko Haram has kidnapped an unknown number of girls, women and young men to be used as sex slaves and fighters. Many have escaped or been released as Boko Haram has fled a multinational offensive that began at the end of January.

A military source who was in Sambisa told The Associated Press that some of the women rescued Tuesday fought back, and that Boko Haram was using armed women as human shields, putting them as their first line of defense.

The Nigerian troops managed to subdue them and rounded them all up, and some said they were forced to fight for Boko Haram, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Boko Haram also has used girls and women as suicide bombers, sending them into crowded market places and elsewhere.

A month ago the Nigerian military began pounding the Sambisa Forest in air raids, an assault they said earlier they had been avoiding for fear of killing the Chibok schoolgirls, or inciting their captors to kill them.

Two weeks ago, counterinsurgency spokesman Mike Omeri said a multinational offensive that began at the end of January had driven Boko Haram from all major towns in the northeast and that Nigerian forces were concentrating on the Islamic militant stronghold in the Sambisa Forest. Omeri said the military believed that the Chibok girls might be held there.

In Chibok, community leader Pogu Bitrus said townspeople were desperately trying to verify the identity of the freed girls and women. He said the town had learned of the rescue through social media, not from the military.

“We are trying to verify if there are Chibok girls among them. We are working hard to verify. … All we know is this number have been rescued,” he said. His comments reflected a distrust of the military, which has published many misstatements about the girls and once even claimed to have rescued some, though that proved to be untrue.

Unconfirmed reports over the past year had indicated the girls were broken up into smaller groups and had been forced to convert to Islam and that some were “married” off to their captors. Some witnesses said they saw the girls being ferried by canoe across Lake Chad and into neighboring Cameroon.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau published a video in which he threatened to sell the girls as slaves.

A Muslim leader who had tried to negotiate their release told the AP that at least three had died — from a snake bite, dysentery and malaria.

But the military has reported that none of the girls they found as they freed towns were the Chibok girls, indicating Boko Haram fighters might have held on to their most famous assets and taken them with them when they retreated to the Sambisa Forest, a national game reserve.

Unknown hundreds of people have been killed as the extremists retreated, according to reports from recaptured towns.

On Monday, a local government committee reported the burial of hundreds of skeletons of children, women and men believed killed by Boko Haram in Damasak, a town on the border with Niger.

“I know that there was a large-scale atrocity, but I cannot tell you the precise number of dead bodies,” Senator-elect Abubakar Kyari told reporters in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital 180 kilometers (110 miles) southeast of Damasak.

Damasak was recaptured by troops from Chad and Niger last month and had been occupied by the Islamic extremists since November.

Boko Haram continues to attack isolated communities. The government of neighboring Niger said a Boko Haram attack on Karamga island in Lake Chad over the weekend killed 156 militants, 46 soldiers and 28 civilians.

NLC Proposes N90, 000 Minimum Wage, Decries Alleged Police Siege

By Yetunde Ebosele on May 2, 2015

FACTIONAL President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, yesterday urged the incoming administration to put in place a new minimum wage of not less than N90, 000 across the country.

In his speech to mark the 2015 May Day celebration held in Lagos yesterday, Ajaero said the nation cannot address the challenge of income inequality and poverty without addressing the question of salaries and wages for working people “because there is intricate linkage between income, consumption and production.”

He said the incoming administration must be put on notice that the five year tenure of the national minimum wage ends this year, adding that the NLC under his leadership is putting before the new administration a proposal of N90, 000 naira for negotiation with the Federal Government and Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).

According to him, ‘this modest proposal’ is based on the unstable micro economic environment, naira devaluation and the high rate of inflation.

He also used the opportunity to criticize security agencies for preventing the workers access to the National Stadium for the annual event.

He said the workers have fundamental right to peaceful assembly and information, adding that the Inspector General of Police “should know that no one can intimidate us not to exercise our fundamental rights.”

He said the NLC under his leadership is committed to its primary goal of defending the rights and advancing the interest of workers through instrument of collective bargaining and social dialogue.

He said: “We are conscious that we cannot do it alone. Therefore, we will continue to work very strongly with our civil society allies in our effort to defend the rights and privileges of the working masses of this country.

“Beyond our primary goal, we are conscious of the great expectations of Nigerians for the NLC to provide leadership in our struggle for improved living conditions and better life for our people, which informed the choice of the theme of this year’s May Day: The Labour Movement and the Quest for Good Governance.”

Arrests Made Friday Night After Curfew Arrives in Baltimore

Associated Press,
ABC 7 News, Tom Roussey May 1, 2015 - 10:29 pm

BALTIMORE, Md. (AP/WJLA) -- Shortly after curfew went into effect, Baltimore police arrested several people gathered at the intersection of Pennsylvania and North avenues in front of City Hall.

Leading up to 10 p.m., more than 100 people were dancing in the streets and chanting "Freddie" to celebrate charges against six officers in connection with Freddie Gray's death.

Police said the protesters remained at War Memorial Plaza "in violation of the curfew," had been warned and that officers were arresting protesters who refused to leave.

A helicopter hovered overhead and warned people that they were subject to arrest while people danced atop a truck in the middle of the intersection.

Then a line of police wearing helmets, protective vests and carrying body shields, moved in and took a few people away.

A line of National Guard troops and tanks, along with mounted police guarded the area and police vans were on the scene.

There did not appear to be any protesters left after police moved in, other than a handful being interviewed by reporters about what they saw.

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Several Arrested After Curfew in Baltimore; Many Cheer Charges Against Six Officers

By TIMOTHY M. PHELPS AND MICHAEL MUSKAL
Los Angeles Times

Six Baltimore police officers face criminal charges in Freddie Gray's death
Second-degree murder among charges against Baltimore officers in Freddie Gray's death
Curfew in Baltimore went into effect again Friday at 10 p.m., and police arrested several protesters near City Hall after a small group sitting on a lawn refused to leave.

Officers worked from two sides to disperse the crowd of about 50 people. Some demonstrators ran away, other were taken into custody.

By 10:30, the protesters had been cleared out. All that remained near City Hall were more than 100 police officers and National Guardsmen.

The arrests followed an evening of celebration over the charging of six police officers in connection with the death of Freddie Gray.

Protesters joined in chants -- “Peaceful! Positive! Powerful!" -- and held up signs calling for an end to police brutality and the citywide curfew, which has been in effect nightly since Monday's rioting.

Some chanted, "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! This curfew has got to go!"

Imani Hill, 41, brought her two young daughters to witness a bit of local history.

She said she was proud of Baltimore State’s Atty. Marilyn Mosby, who announced the charges Friday against the six officers, and felt gratified that the city had begun to turn away from rage.

“I just want them to be aware,” she said.

Brandon Cole, 25, who lives in West Baltimore, joined the march still wearing his vest from his job at an Amazon warehouse.

“I feel it's good, a good thing, but it's just the beginning, ” he said of the charges.

The demonstration began earlier Friday as hundreds chanted, “All night, all day, justice for Freddie Gray!”

The protesters made their way through West Baltimore, greeted by honking cars as helicopters hovered overhead.

The demonstrators reached City Hall by nightfall.

The six Baltimore police officers charged in Gray's death surrendered Friday to face criminal counts including second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Bail for each was set at between $250,000 and $350,000. All the officers posted bond and were released.

Mosby said Friday that Gray’s death had been officially ruled a homicide and that the investigation by city police and her office had found probable cause to charge all six officers.

“No one is above the law,” said Mosby, standing on the marble steps of Baltimore’s War Memorial Building. As she announced the indictments, some in the crowd jubilantly shouted their approval. By late afternoon demonstrators had begun to gather near Baltimore City Hall, hours before curfew.

Mosby detailed how Gray fled police, was chased and arrested, then transported in a police van that stopped four times. Gray was not secured with a seat belt during the trip and was repeatedly refused medical care, she said.

“Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside of the BPD wagon,” she said.

The most serious charge, second-degree “depraved heart” murder, was lodged against the driver of the van, Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. In Maryland, “depraved heart” murder is less serious than a first-degree intentional killing, but one that involves a special degree of reckless indifference. It carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

 The initial arrest lacked probable cause, Mosby said. The knife that was hidden in Gray’s clothes was not a switchblade, as first reported, and was legal under Maryland law.

The other five officers -- Officer Garrett E. Miller, Officer William G. Porter, Officer Edward M. Nero, Lt. Brian W. Rice and Sgt. Alicia D. White -- face charges ranging from involuntary manslaughter to assault to misconduct. The more serious charges carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

Gray’s death put Baltimore at the center of protests over relations between blacks and police, a sometimes-fierce debate that has stretched from the streets of the nation’s cities including Ferguson, Mo., and New York to the White House. Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested in Baltimore and elsewhere in recent days.

Gray's family and their attorney said Friday afternoon that they were shocked by Mosby's decision, but it was a "good shock."

Richard Shipley, Gray's stepfather, said the charges were an "important step in getting justice for Freddie" and called for peace.

"We ask that whoever comes to our city, a city that we love, a city that we live in, come in peace," Shipley said. "If you are not coming in peace, please don't come at all because this city needs to get back to work."

The last thing his son would want, Shipley said, would be for the "hardworking people of Baltimore to lose their jobs and businesses because of his death."

"That would totally defeat purpose. … Without justice there is no peace, but let us have peace in the pursuit of justice."

Many Baltimore defense lawyers were surprised at the speed with which Mosby brought charges, a day after officially receiving the report of the city Police Department. But they were divided in their assessment of how strong a case she appeared to have.

“It’s pretty disconcerting what she is doing, bringing charges after having the case just one day,” said former federal prosecutor Steven H. Levin.

Levin said defense lawyers were likely to seek a change of venue, which could dramatically alter the racial makeup of the jury pool, a serious factor in a case full of racial tension. Juries in Baltimore are likely to be at least half African American, while in the suburbs they are predominantly white.

“The first thing I would do is file a change of venue,” Levin said. “You are asking potential jurors to try and disregard what they have read and heard about this case, which is a very difficult task.”

But Arnold M. Weiner, a storied Baltimore defense lawyer with many high-profile acquittals to his name, said the charges looked to have been carefully prepared.

“Obviously she has been gathering information as this investigation continued,” Weiner said. “The charges very carefully distinguish among the participants, and she laid out the real scale of culpability here.”

He said a change of venue was “unlikely. This is one of those instances where the whole country is aware of what took place.”

“The jury pool is likely to be upset about two things,” said a Baltimore attorney who represents police and asked not be quoted because he may be involved in the defense. “Half the jury pool is going to be concerned about this young African American who gets killed on the street by the police. The other half will be very upset that people have been looting stores and burning buildings in Baltimore. This will be a hard case to prove once things calm down.”


After Mosby’s announcement, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake pledged to “continue to be relentless in changing the culture of the Police Department.”

“To those of you who want to engage in brutality, misconduct, racism and corruption, let me be clear: There is no place for you in the Baltimore City Police Department," she said.

“There will be justice for Mr. Gray. Justice must apply to all of us equally.”

The Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police announced that the union would stand by the officers. “Our organization has supported these officers and will continue to do so,” said Lt. Kenneth Butler, speaking at a union news conference.

Baltimore police officers are unhappy with the charges, which union lawyer Michael E. Davey called a rush to judgment.

“No officer injured Mr. Gray. No officer hurt Mr. Gray,” Davey said. “Our intention is to try this case in the courtroom and not the media. We believe these officers will be vindicated since they did nothing wrong.”

“I can tell you they are not happy,” union President Gene Ryan said, saying police were “appalled” by the charges. “This decision to charge officers is going to make our job harder.”

At the White House, President Obama told reporters that he had not reviewed the charges against the Baltimore police but said it was “absolutely vital that the truth comes out” about how Gray died.

“Justice needs to be served,” Obama said after a meeting with persecuted foreign journalists to mark World Press Freedom Day.

Obama several days ago condemned what he called criminal activity in Baltimore‎ during the Monday rioting. The president also said that he was gratified to see “constructive, thoughtful” protests overtaking the violence, which peaked on Monday.

The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating the death for possible civil rights violations. Cheering broke out in Baltimore, especially in West Baltimore, where Gray had lived and was arrested, when the charges were announced.

“I come here to thank God,” said U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a longtime voice for civil rights. He spoke surrounded by leaders of the African American community and clergy.

“The process has started, that’s the main thing,” Cummings said. “So many people in the neighborhoods have never seen a victory. They had come to believe the system had not worked, that the system worked against them. It’s a new day in our city.”

During her announcement, Mosby spoke directly to the protesters who have marched in Baltimore and around the nation.

“I heard your call for no justice, no peace,” Mosby said, “but your peace is sincerely needed as I work to bring justice for Freddie Gray.”

Six Baltimore Officers Charged in Death of Freddie Gray

BALTIMORE
BY SCOTT MALONE AND IAN SIMPSON

(Reuters) - Baltimore's chief prosecutor charged one police officer with murder on Friday and five others with lesser crimes in the death of a young black man who suffered a critical neck injury in the back of a police van, a case that fueled new anger over police conduct in black communities.

The swift decision by Marilyn Mosby, who has been in the position only since January, to charge the six officers in the death of Freddie Gray caught many by surprise in a city that experienced its worst civil unrest in decades on Monday night.

Mosby made her announcement hours after the Maryland state medical examiner had ruled the death a homicide and a day after police handed her office the findings of its internal review of Gray's April 12 arrest.

Caesar R. Goodson Jr., a black officer who drove the police van, was charged with second-degree murder, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

All six officers - three black and three white, five men and one woman - posted bond after their arrest Friday and were released from custody. Their union rose to their defense.

"We are disappointed in the apparent rush to judgment given the fact the investigation into this matter has not been concluded," said Gene Ryan, president of the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police.

Mosby, a 35-year-old African American, whose family includes generations of law enforcement officers, rejected the union's call for a special prosecutor.

After a convulsive week, thousands of demonstrators marched through the majority black city on Friday evening, with many believing their mostly peaceful protests over two weeks had prompted Mosby's decision.

Rioters burned buildings and looted stores in Baltimore on Monday night after Gray's funeral, and protests spread to other major cities in a reprise of demonstrations set off by police killings last year of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, New York and elsewhere.

Gray, 25, sustained his fatal injury while riding in a police van, the prosecutor said, citing the autopsy report. Gray succumbed to his spinal injuries in a hospital on April 19.

"To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America, I heard your call for 'no justice, no peace.' Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man," Mosby said at a news conference that quickly changed the tone in the city.

Gray's family was shocked, said attorney William H. "Billy" Murphy, noting "it was a good shock that justice had been approached in this forthright and courageous manner by this prosecutor."

CURFEW REMAINS IN FORCE

Officers cuffed Gray's hands behind his back and shackled his legs but did not secure him with a seatbelt while the van was moving, a violation of police department policy, Mosby said. Then, with "depraved indifference," officers ignored Gray's repeated pleas for medical attention, she said.

While the charges brought joy and relief to the city of 620,000, residents cautioned that they needed to see justice served, not only in Baltimore but in other poor communities where young black men believe they are targeted by police.

While touring the city to assess the impact of the unrest, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said he does not recommend the city lift its curfew just yet.

"We're still expecting quite a bit of activity tonight and tomorrow," Hogan told Reuters. "Hopefully, we'll get back to normal in a couple of days."

Police arrested at least several protesters who defied the curfew.

In Ferguson and New York last year, grand juries decided against charging officers who were involved in the deaths of two unarmed black men. The news triggered rioting in the St. Louis suburb and days of protest marches in New York and other cities.

Apart from the one murder charge, the officers faced charges ranging from manslaughter to assault and misconduct in office, which carry potential prison terms of between three and 10 years.

Goodson also faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter, as do three others: Sgt. Alicia D. White, Officer William G. Porter and Lt. Brian Rice. All six, including Officer Edward M. Nero and Officer Garrett E. Miller, face lesser charges.

President Barack Obama took the unusual step of commenting on charges in an open case, highlighting the importance that the issue of police conduct toward minority groups has assumed over the past year.

"It is absolutely vital that the truth comes out in what happened to Freddie Gray," Obama said. "I think what the people in Baltimore want more than anything else is the truth. That’s what people in our country expect."

The incident that has commanded national attention began on April 12, when officers on bicycles made eye contact with Gray in a high-crime neighborhood, police said. The man immediately fled with the officers in pursuit.

When they caught up to him, Gray was handcuffed behind his back and dragged by the arms, screaming, into a waiting van, a bystander's video footage shows.

The prosecutor said Gray's arrest was illegal. Officers had said that he was carrying a switchblade knife in violation of the law, but she said it was in fact a folding knife that was legal to carry.

Mosby said the fatal injury occurred after the van stopped to allow officers to shackle Gray's legs and put him back inside. Officers failed to secure Gray in seat restraints at every stage of the ride, she said.

"Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside of the BPD wagon," said Mosby.

Gray was no longer breathing when he was finally removed from the van, Mosby said.

(Additional reporting by Laila Kearney and Barbara Goldberg in New York, Colleen Jenkins in North Carolina, and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Frank McGurty and Mary Milliken; Editing by Grant McCool and Ken Wills)

6 Baltimore Police Officers Charged in Freddie Gray Death

By ALAN BLINDER and RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
New York Times
MAY 1, 2015

BALTIMORE — Baltimore’s chief prosecutor charged six police officers on Friday with a range of crimes including murder and manslaughter in the arrest and fatal injury of Freddie Gray, a striking and surprisingly swift turn in a case that has drawn national attention to police conduct.

The state’s attorney for Baltimore, Marilyn J. Mosby, filed the charges almost as soon as she received a medical examiner’s report that ruled Mr. Gray’s death a homicide, and a day after the police concluded its initial investigation and handed over their findings. Officials had cautioned that it could take considerable time for her office to complete its own investigation and decide whether to prosecute.

All six officers were arrested and were being arraigned, a public safety department spokesman said.

In a city rocked by unrest this week, and now under curfew and patrolled by National Guard troops, Ms. Mosby’s announcement on the steps of the War Memorial downtown drew cheers from the assembled crowd while a cordon of officers in riot gear looked on stonily. As word spread, people in parts of the city took to the streets in celebration. The death of Mr. Gray brought to a boil long-simmering tensions between the police and poor neighborhoods in this majority-black city, culminating in rioting on Monday, with more peaceful demonstrations continuing through the week.

President Obama declined to comment on the charges directly, but said that what matters is for the justice system to work properly. “What I think the people of Baltimore want more than anything else is the truth,” he said. “That’s what people around the country expect.”

Ms. Mosby said that Mr. Gray suffered a spinal injury on April 12 while being transported in a police van — and not earlier, while being arrested — and pointed to the failure of the police to put a seatbelt on him as a crucial factor.

“Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside the B.P.D. wagon,” she said, referring to the police van.

Despite repeated stops to check on Mr. Gray, the van driver, Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr., and other officers never belted him in, she said, at times leaving him facedown on the van floor with his hands behind him. Though there has been speculation that the police intentionally gave Mr. Gray a “rough ride,” intended to slam him against the metal walls of the van, Ms. Mosby did not refer to that possibility. She charged only Officer Goodson with second-degree murder, the most serious crime facing the six officers; he was also accused of manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office.

Mr. Gray’s condition deteriorated, she said, as officers repeatedly ignored his pleas for medical attention and ignored obvious signs that he was in distress. At one point, she said, when officers tried to check on him, Mr. Gray was unresponsive yet no action was taken. He died of his injuries a week later.

Ms. Mosby faulted the officers’ conduct almost from the minute the police first came into contact with Mr. Gray, not just on the van ride. The officers who arrested him “failed to establish probable cause for Mr. Gray’s arrest, as no crime had been committed,” she said, describing the arrest as illegal. Officers charged him with possession of a switchblade, but Ms. Mosby said, “The knife was not a switchblade and is lawful under Maryland law.”

Lt. Brian W. Rice was charged with manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and false imprisonment. Officer William G. Porter and Sgt. Alicia D. White were charged with manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office. Officers Edward M. Nero and Garrett E. Miller were charged with assault, misconduct in office and false imprisonment.

The Baltimore chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police defended the officers and called on Ms. Mosby to remove herself from the case and hand it over to a special prosecutor, an idea she dismissed out of hand. The group’s leaders said the filing of charges so soon after the incident was politically motivated.

“The actions taken today by the state’s attorney are an egregious rush to judgment,” said Mike Davey, the fraternal order’s lawyer, who said he is representing Lieutenant Rice in the case. “We believe that these officers will be vindicated, as they have done nothing wrong.”

Gene Ryan, president of the chapter, charged that Ms. Mosby had conflicts of interest, including the fact that she has been supported politically by William H. Murphy Jr., the lawyer for Mr. Gray’s family. He also noted that her husband is a city councilman, arguing that his political future, like hers, could be affected by the case.

As Ms. Mosby finished reading her announcement, the news began to ripple through a crowd of African-American residents and activists who had pooled around her. Edward Jenkins, 44, a motivational speaker and musician who goes by the name Voyce, approached and could hardly contain his surprise when he was told of the charges. “Are you serious?” he said.

Like many Baltimore residents, Mr. Jenkins, who grew up in Mr. Gray’s neighborhood, said he thought the announcement might put a damper on further unrest.

“I think this will take some of the nervousness off of it, but they’ll still want a guilty verdict,” he said. “It means that we’re absolutely getting a start on justice.”

Standing on a nearby street corner, Renee James, 48, said, “There’s no need to go tear up the city no more.”

Her friend, Antoinnette White, 53, said of the riot: “Hurting innocent people was nonsense. I cried.”

But Abdullah Moaney, 53, an information technology worker from East Baltimore, said that “peace has lost its credibility.” Justifyng the violence that broke out Monday, he said that “if it wasn’t for the riot,” charges would not have been filed.

“This is a great day, and I think we need to realize that,” Representative Elijah Cummings said. “I think a message has been sent by our state’s attorney that she treasures every life, that she values every person.”

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said that most of the city’s police officers were good, but added, “To those who choose to engage in violence, brutality, racism and brutality, let me be clear: There is no place in the Baltimore Police Department for you.”

Mr. Gray started his fateful ride lying on the floor of the police van, Ms. Mosby said. A short time later, Officer Goodson “proceeded to the back of the wagon in order to observe Mr. Gray,” she said, though she did not say why.

“At no point did he seek, nor did he render, any medical help for Mr. Gray,” the prosecutor said.

National guard members took up positions in West Baltimore on Friday. Credit Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times
A few blocks later, he called a dispatcher to say that he needed help checking on his prisoner. Another officer arrived, and the back of the van was opened. “Mr. Gray at that time requested help and indicated that he could not breathe,” and asked twice for a medic, Ms. Mosby said. While the officers helped him onto the bench in the back of the van, she said, they still did not belt him in.

While they were there, she said, a call went out for a van to pick up and transport another person who had been arrested. “Despite Mr. Gray’s obvious and recognized need for assistance, Officer Goodson, in a grossly negligent manner,” answered that call, rather than seeking medical help, Ms. Mosby said.

At the van’s next stop, Officer Goodson met the officers who made the initial arrest, and a sergeant who had arrived on the scene. Opening the van once again, they “observed Mr. Gray unresponsive on the floor of the wagon,” Ms. Mosby said.

The sergeant, she said, spoke to the back of Mr. Gray’s head, but he did not respond. “She made no effort to look, or assess or determine his condition,” Ms. Mosby said.

When the van finally arrived at the Western District police station and officers tried to remove him, “Mr. Gray was no longer breathing at all,” she said. A medic was summoned and found Mr. Gray in cardiac arrest. Then he was rushed to a hospital.

A. Dwight Pettit, a lawyer who handles police brutality cases in Baltimore — and worked to help elect Ms. Mosby — said her emphasis on the officers’ lack of probable cause in arresting Mr. Gray was especially significant. Rarely, he said, are police officers prosecuted for making false arrests — and too often, they do not worry about lacking probable cause.

He called the charges of false imprisonment “something new for police activity, which offends the constitutional rights of citizens.”

Alan Blinder reported from Baltimore, and Richard Pérez-Peña from New York. Richard Fausset, Rebecca White and Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting from Baltimore.

Protesters Ready for May Day March Over African American's Death in Baltimore

BALTIMORE
BY SCOTT MALONE AND IAN SIMPSON

(Reuters) - Protesters and the family of a 25-year-old black man who died of injuries sustained while in police custody planned a May Day march in Baltimore as they demanded answers and punishment for the officers involved.

Freddie Gray's death is the latest in a string of incidents exposing the tense relations between U.S. minorities and police. Protesters planned to use annual May 1 marches, marking International Labor Day, to focus attention on the case, which follows the killings of unarmed black men in recent months.

Police in Baltimore turned over their report on the case a day earlier to prosecutors but released few details publicly, though local media reports suggested Gray may have been injured while he was in the back of a police van.

After rioting in Baltimore on Monday, protests have spread to major cities around the United States, resembling scenes of outrage sparked last year by police killings of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Missouri, New York and elsewhere.

Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, a black woman who is the daughter and granddaughter of police officers, has now taken over the investigation to determine what exactly happened to Gray and whether any of the six officers involved in his arrest should face criminal charges. The six have been suspended from duty.

Mosby said her office has been conducting its own independent probe. The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating the case.

"All I want her to do is one thing: Search for the truth," said U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, a Democrat who has been a fixture in the largely peaceful protests that followed Monday's rioting. "We must allow the process to go forward."

Gray suffered spinal injuries some time between his April 12 arrest and his arrival at a police station. Police have said Gray was not restrained during the ride, a violation of department policies. He died a week later.

Despite the protests, many questions about Gray's death remain unanswered. But media reports on Thursday provided possible accounts of what may have happened.

Multiple law enforcement sources told local broadcaster WJLA that the medical examiner found Gray's neck appeared to have broken when his head slammed into the back of the van. He also suffered a head wound matching a bolt jutting from the vehicle's back door, the sources told the station.

The Washington Post cited a prisoner, who rode in the police van with Gray but could not see him, as saying he heard sounds that suggested Gray tried to hurt himself while riding in the vehicle, according to a document written by a police investigator.

Many on the streets of Baltimore were skeptical of the idea that Gray's injuries were self-inflicted.

"The police did that," said Eugene Russell, 46. "And the police are going to get away with it."

'KAFKA-ESQUE NIGHTMARE'

Roughly 270 people have been arrested since Monday's violence - which saw stores looted, dozens of buildings and cars burned, and numerous officers injured - and officials have since imposed a citywide 10:00 p.m. curfew.

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said on Wednesday that more than 100 people had been released without being charged, because officials could not keep up with the paperwork, though he said charges would be brought later.

But public defender Marci Tarrant Johnson described the conditions endured by many of the arrestees before their release in a Facebook posting Wednesday that has since gone viral.

Johnson wrote that many had been illegally detained for more than 24 hours and that women she interviewed had taken to using slices of bread served as part of their meals as pillows.

"Interviewing these women was emotionally exhausting. Quite a few of them began crying - so happy to finally see someone who might know why they were there, or perhaps how they might get out of this Kafka-esque nightmare," she wrote.

"The cells were designed to hold people for a few hours, not a few days," she said.

Baltimore police and the state's Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services could not be immediately reached on Friday morning to comment on the allegations.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that one of the officers involved in Gray's arrest had been hospitalized three years ago over mental health concerns. The report could not be independently confirmed.

(Writing by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Freddie Gray Protests Continue in Baltimore, Other Cities

By TIMOTHY M. PHELPS, MICHAEL MUSKAL AND MATT PEARCE
Los Angeles Times

Police says van carrying Freddie Gray made four, not three, stops before reaching station
Once again, the curfew was heeded as hundreds of demonstrators protested in Baltimore and elsewhere Thursday evening after police formally turned their investigation of the death of Freddie Gray over to the state's attorney’s office.

Baltimore police found that Gray suffered a serious head injury inside a prisoner transport wagon, with one wound indicating that he struck a protruding bolt in the back of the vehicle, sources familiar with the inquiry told the Baltimore Sun.

Gray died April 19, a week after his arrest, after suffering a mysterious spinal injury while in custody.

The state's attorney’s office, which will decide whether to charge the officers involved with Gray’s arrest, said it was conducting its own investigation.

Maryland's chief medical examiner, Dr. David R. Fowler, said that he had not given any documents to police or prosecutors but that autopsy results would be available “shortly,” the Sun reported.

For the third night in a row, a 10 p.m. curfew passed without major incident in Baltimore, as hundreds of demonstrators – including NBA star and Baltimore native Carmelo Anthony – dispersed after marching on City Hall earlier in the evening.

In Philadelphia, shoving briefly broke out between police and a crowd of several hundred demonstrators who otherwise marched peacefully through the city for several hours. A peaceful crowd of about 300 demonstrators also gathered to protest in Cincinnati, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Those solidarity demonstrations were the latest in a series held in cities across the nation this week.

The curfew -- imposed after looting, arson and stone-throwing broke out across Baltimore following Gray’s funeral Monday -- is expected to continue through the weekend, despite criticism from business owners and civil liberties advocates.

“The ability to walk freely in public without police interference, as long as no laws are being broken, is a fundamental part of living in a free country, and necessary to the exercise of all First Amendment freedoms, including spontaneous expressive activity,” Deborah Jeon, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, said in a statement. “Restricting it exacerbates, rather than solves, Baltimore's current problems."

The ACLU sent a letter to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake calling for the curfew to be rescinded.

Also Thursday, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, while applauding residents for “two days of peace and quiet,” added, “We still have a weekend to make it through.”

Nor would curfew-breakers be tolerated as tensions gradually eased in the city, Batts said: “This is not playtime.”

Baltimore police have given their findings on the death of Gray to the state prosecutor a day earlier than the self-imposed deadline, Batts announced earlier in the day.

Officials said nearly 100 officers had been injured in the days of confrontation, 13 of them  seriously enough to be placed on medical leave and 15 on light duty. In addition, 106 people who had been arrested during the disturbances have been released because police have been unable to charge them during the 48-hour period after their arrests.

The results of the police investigation were sent to State's Atty. Marilyn Mosby, who will decide the next step, including whether to bring charges against any of the six officers who were involved in arrest and transport of Gray on April 12. His death a week later touched off days of protests and Monday night's violence and mass arrests.

“I understand the frustration. I understand the sense of urgency,” Batts told reporters Thursday. “That is why we have finished it a day ahead of time.

“The public deserves transparency and truth,” he said.

In a prepared statement, Mosby formally acknowledged receiving the findings and gave no time frame for when her office would complete its work.

"While we have and will continue to leverage the information received by the Department, we are not relying solely on their findings but rather the facts that we have gathered and verified. We ask for the public to remain patient and peaceful and to trust the process of the justice system," the statement said.

Speaking at the National Action Network, Rawlings-Blake called for justice and unity.

“We will get justice for Freddie Gray; we will do it if we work together,” she said after the police findings were sent to the prosecutor’s office.

“I have wanted to serve the people of Baltimore since I was a child and did everything I could to put myself in a position to do so,” the mayor said of her political career working on municipal issues.

“I know we have had problems; I was trying to fix them,” she continued. “We can be better than what I’ve seen.”

Batts said his department had put more than 30 investigators on the case, the latest tinderbox in a year of national debate and protests over relations between African Americans and police.

“We have exhausted every lead at this point,” Batts told reporters. “But this does not mean the investigation is over.” As new information becomes available, police will follow the leads under the supervision of prosecutors.

Police did not discuss their findings but offered one new detail — that the police van carrying Gray made one additional stop for a total of four between his arrest and when he arrived unconscious at the police station.

Baltimore police have said they do not know whether Gray was injured during the arrest or during his ride in the van.

Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis, who headed the investigative task force, said new video had been found showing the extra stop, but he did not explain what happened there.

Baltimore police refused to take any questions, saying the action is now in the prosecutor's hands. “I know the state's attorney is committed to justice,” Batts said.

The police findings were sent to prosecutors amid a published report suggesting that Gray intentionally tried to injure himself as he was being transported in a police van.

According to the Washington Post, the prisoner sharing the police van told investigators that he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the vehicle and believed that he “was intentionally trying to injure himself.”

The prisoner later recanted his remarks that Gray was trying to hurt himself, sources familiar with the investigation told the Sun.

A man identifying himself as that prisoner has publicly come forward to say that the police report is inaccurate.

“All I did was go straight to the station, but I heard a little banging like he was banging his head,” the man, Donta Allen, told WJZ-TV, which reported Allen had been arrested on suspicion of stealing cigarettes.

“They are trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to himself,” Allen told the TV station. “Why ...  would he do that to himself?”

Jason Downs, one of the attorneys for the Gray family, told the Post that the family had not been told of the prisoner’s comments to investigators.

“We disagree with any implication that Freddie Gray severed his own spinal cord,” Downs said. “We question the accuracy of the police reports we’ve seen thus far, including the police report that says Mr. Gray was arrested without force or incident.”

Police previously acknowledged that department policy was breached in that Gray was placed in the van but not buckled into a seat belt and that officers failed to get him medical care in a timely fashion. The Justice Department is also investigating whether there were any violations of federal civil rights law.


There were widespread protests in Baltimore, Boston, New York and Washington on Wednesday night over Gray’s death. The demonstrations were mainly peaceful, but there were 16 arrests in Baltimore.

Downtown Baltimore was unusually quiet Thursday, with some major tourist attractions closed.

Nick Empie and Michael Warren, in town for a food safety convention all week, said they were disappointed that the B&O Railroad Museum was closed. They had hoped to see a train that had carried Abraham Lincoln on a tour across the country. Their friends and family at home are surprised to hear that things are quiet and that they are having a good time, they said.

“The media makes it sound like the whole town is in a riot. They think it’s a war zone,” Warren said.

Baltimore Protesters March Again After Police File Gray Report

Yamiche Alcindor, Donna Leinwand Leger and Doug Stanglin
USA TODAY 11:34 p.m. EDT April 30, 2015

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Baltimore again to protest the death of Freddie Gray.

Hundreds of protesters filled the front of Baltimore's City Hall on Thursday, again giving voice to frustration over the death of a young black man in police custody, as the department turned over its investigative findings to prosecutors.

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts declined to make the investigative results public while the state's attorney determines whether charges will be brought against any of the six suspended police officers involved in Freddie Gray's arrest. No timetable has been set for that decision.

The latest development comes amid a disputed allegation that a prisoner sharing a police van with Gray, who died of spinal injuries while in police custody, told officers that Gray appeared to be intentionally trying to injure himself, based on what he heard inside the van.

The death of Gray, 25, has sparked almost two weeks of protests that turned violent Monday, prompting the governor to call out the National Guard to stop rioters who burned and looted parts of the city.

A 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew took effect for a third night Thursday. Small groups of people could be seen on city streets as the curfew began, and they were met by an advancing line of police in riot gear and armored vehicles.

At least two people were taken into custody as officers shouted for people to go home. Moments later, police retreated as a couple dozen protesters remained.

As 200 to 300 people demonstrated outside the city's government offices, similar marches took place in Philadelphia, New York and other cities. New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said 143 people were arrested in demonstrations there Wednesday night.

A small group of protesters in Philadelphia scuffled with police as they tried to block the entrance to a major highway.

The situation has compelled protesters to compare it to the string of cases of alleged police brutality against black males in recent years. Jamal Bryant, a nationally known pastor based in Baltimore, tweeted Thursday night that the family of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, would come to Baltimore Friday in solidarity with the protesters.

In Baltimore, Amanda David, 41, burst into tears as she addressed the crowd, saying her 5-year-old son, Micah Allen, is already terrified of police.

"It breaks your heart as a mother," David said. "He's told me, 'There go the police... What are they going to do to us?'"

Protesters snaked through the city, stopping traffic as police directed cars away from the marchers. Dozens of National Guard troops stood around metal barriers keeping protesters several feet from City Hall.

Protesters held signs saying "End Police Terror," "We are not thugs and neither are our children," "I LoveBaltimore" and "#BlackLivesMatter."

The police findings turned over to prosecutors were the result of an investigation by 30 officers, and the case remains under active investigation, Batts said.

Meanwhile, WJLA-TV cited several law enforcement sources in reporting that the police investigation found no evidence that Gray's fatal injuries occurred during his arrest and interaction with police officers.

The Washington station reported that a medical examiner found that the fatal injury occurred when Gray slammed into the back of the van, apparently breaking his neck. WJLA's sources said a head injury he sustained matches a bolt in the back of the vehicle. Details of the purported injury were unclear, WJLA said.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said that after the prosecutor, State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, completes her criminal review, an "internal disciplinary" police department process can begin. She said the U.S. Department of Justice is undertaking its own independent inquiry.

"The family of Mr. Gray wants answers. I want answers. Our entire city deserves answers into Mr. Gray's death," the mayor said. "I ask that everyone remain patient and vigilant on this path to justice."

At a meeting later with civil rights leaders, Rawlings-Blake said she would welcome a U.S. Justice Department "collaborative reform" of the police department. However, she said she didn't want the Justice Department to take over the city.

"I know we have problems and I am determined to fix them," Rawlings-Blake said. "We will get justice for Freddie Gray. Believe you me, we will get justice. We are going to do it because we are going to work together."

The State's Attorney's Office confirmed it had received the investigation file and said it contained no new information because prosecutors are conducting their own investigation and have been briefed regularly by police.

"While we have and will continue to leverage the information received by the Department, we are not relying solely on their findings but rather the facts that we have gathered and verified," Mosby said in a written statement.. "We ask for the public to remain patient and peaceful and to trust the process of the justice system."

Jamal Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, called police "shameful" for telling the public about the report's release date but not revealing any more details about Gray's death.

"It's a contrived, botched public relations campaign from the police department trying to save themselves, their brand and rewrite the narrative," Bryant said. "It's insulting to the intelligence of the citizens of this city."

He also said explanations for not releasing the reports were "malarkey" and that officials are unjustly "cherry-picking" information they want. "It's going to make our job a lot harder to speak for calm for the city," he said.

Lifelong Baltimore resident Heber Brown, 34, said police releasing the report a day early shows the power and pressure of the protests that have swelled across the city.

"The police were really hoping this would go away and that people just would forget about it," said Brown, pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church. "We have forced the police to do what they didn't want to do — to submit a report in a timely way and to get on the right track of having some sort of resolution around what happens to these officers."

Brown, a member of activist group Baltimore United for Change, added that it shouldn't have taken "organized people marching in the streets to get a report." Now, though, he is frustrated that the public won't be learning the details of the police investigation anytime soon.

A coalition of activists plans to march from Baltimore's state's attorney's office to City Hall on Friday to demand "the rapid prosecution of police officers involved in Gray's killing" and legal reforms to ensure that bad cops are held responsible for unlawful acts.

Police officials said Thursday that 98 officers had reported injuries since the protests and clashes began. Of those, 43 required some kind of emergency treatment, 13 are out on medical leave, 15 have returned to light duty and 15 have returned to full duty after treatment.

Elizabeth Alex, a lead organizer in Baltimore with CASA, a non-profit organization that focuses on immigrant rights, says demonstrators will call on State's Attorney Mosby to act quickly.

"People want ultimately the officers responsible for Freddie Gray's death held accountable," Alex said.

"I'm hopeful that by giving people an outlet that will be peaceful and organized, that we can show the power of the community and clearly demonstrate the priorities and the demands without resorting to violence," she said.

The dispute over a prisoner's alleged recollection of what occurred the night Gray was arrested underscored the pressure for disclosure surrounding the events.

The statement from the unidentified prisoner was contained in an application for a search warrant,The Washington Post reported Thursday. The warrant has been sealed by the court; the Post said it had obtained the documents under the condition that the prisoner not be named.

The newspaper noted that the prisoner, although sharing the police van, was separated from Gray by a metal partition and could not see him.

According to the document, the prisoner told investigators that Gray was "banging against walls" inside the vehicle and was "intentionally trying to injure himself."

WBAL-TV, however, reported that its investigation showed no evidence to support the second prisoner's claim.

Investigative reporter Jane Miller told MSNBC on Thursday that medical evidence from the hospital and an autopsy found that Gray died of a single severe spinal injury resulting from a broken neck.

Miller said the medical evidence does not support a claim that Gray had been banging his head against the van wall.

WBAL also reported that video footage shows that the second prisoner was only in the van for five minutes and that officers can be seen looking into the wide open van at the point where he was picked up.

"If there was an irate, disruptive prisoner banging his head, certainly it doesn't look in the video that they (the officers) are worried about that," Miller said.

The reporter also noted that the unidentified prisoner has a "number of years" hanging over his head and has given two different accounts of events that night.

In one new wrinkle in the case, Baltimore police told reporters Thursday without elaboration that their investigation found that transport van carrying made one more stop the night of his arrest than was previously known. Officials refused to speculate on the reason it was not known earlier, how unusual it was or whether it pointed to a possible coverup.

Thousands march in Baltimore, NYC over death of Freddie Gray

Gray's death touched off a series of protests that, in turn, led to violence, burning and looting Monday in Baltimore and provoked a week-long emergency nighttime curfew. The demonstrations directed at the Gray case and the general police treatment of blacks saw droves of chanting protesters lining city blocks and spilling into nearby streets.

Thousands massed outside City Hall on Wednesday to protest Gray's death and the outrage spread to New York City, where another large throng gathered in Union Square.

Baltimore's history of mistrust: 'When police come up, everybody runs'

The protests, while sometimes numbering in the thousands during the day, have dwindled to small crowds at night since the city ordered a 10 p.m. curfew, bolstered by 1,000 law enforcement officers and 2,000 National Guard troops.

Contributing: John Bacon, William M. Welch