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DSS attacks on journalists: UN told to sanction Buhari govt

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Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to punish Nigeria for the egregious violations of the human rights of media workers in the country.

The rights group said the classification of the Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by the UNURC should be downgraded as a global sanction for President Muhammadu Buhari’s penchant for physically brutalizing media workers and administratively frustrating enjoyment of press freedoms and freedom of expression in Nigeria.

HURIWA regretted that even when it is evidently clear that president Buhari has crippled the operational independence of NHRC, the UNHRC behaves as if Nigerians are less valuable in terms of the universality of the fundamental human rights captured by the universal declarations of human rights.

“We think the UN Human Rights system is racist because how else do you explain this inequality and neglect of the crackdown of media workers happening in Nigeria but yet the British Government continues to dine and wine with the rapidly emerging dictator in Abuja who keeps globetrotting?”

In a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Director of media Affairs Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA regretted that on daily basis security forces apply physical torture and brute force to stop and prevent media practitioners from exercising their functions stipulated in section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution.

“No day passes without reports of arrests or physical brutalization of Journalists by the Department of State Service (DSS) or the police just as there have been attempts even by the Federal High Court in criminal collusion with the security forces to bar Independent Journalists from covering litigation of public importance.

“Over a dozen Journalists have been killed by police attempting to quell peaceful protests just as these media workers are only just doing their duty as permitted by the Grund Norm.

“We totally condemn these systematic clamp down on Journalists. We condemn President Muhammadu Buhari for escalating attacks against the citizen’ enjoyment of freedoms of expression including the illegal ban imposed on the use of Twitter for over a month.

“There are scores of attacks against citizens for posting comments considered damaging to the reputation of political office holders and governors and there are another dozens of Nigerians who are languishing in jails over media rights related issues.”

HURIWA recalled that on July 28, 2021 operatives of the DSS at Mpape Magistrate Court, Abuja, harassed a journalist with online medium, Premium Times, Ameh Ekwonyilo, for taking the pictures of five activists arrested at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre for wearing T-Shirts with the inscription #BuhariMustGo.

“The reporter, who was in court to cover the proceedings of the trial of the activists, was harassed and had his mobile phone seized by the gun-wielding officers who were stationed within the premises,” the group added.

“Then on July 26, 2021 there was heavy security presence at the Federal High Court in Abuja preparatory to the arrival of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, for continuation of his trial on treasonable felony charge.

“Armed security operatives, mainly from the DSS have barricaded all access routes to the court premises which is beside the Federal Ministry of Justice,” the group further recalled.

The operatives, HURIWA said, blatantly refused to allow this reporter access to the court premises, insisting that only media outlets in a list that was handed to them, would be allowed to enter the court premises.

Again HURIWA said that on 11th June 2021 the operatives of the DSS and some policemen, yesterday, descended on a reporter with the Punch newspaper, Friday Olokor. The journalist, who was to cover a panel of discussants at the ongoing African Council of Women Conference in Abuja, was brutalised and had his clothes torn by the security men on duty.

On July 30, 2021 in the North Eastern state of Bauchi, HURIWA recalled that the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has directed all media organizations in Bauchi state to suspend coverage of all police activities in the state after an assault on a journalist in an event in the state metropolis.

The Union of media workers HURIWA said, while reacting to an attack on the reporter of Africa Independent Television (AIT) in Bauchi, Nagari Damina Yusuf by the Police Special Squad at his duty post, gave the directive in a press release signed by the State Chairman Umar Sa’id and Secretary Isah Garba Gadau and issued at the end of its emergency meeting on Friday.

Culled from the Daily Post Nigeria

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Bizarre Epstein files reference to Trump, Putin, and oral sex with ‘Bubba’ draws scrutiny in Congress

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November 14, 2025

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The latest tranche of emails from the estate of late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein includes one that contains what appear to be references to President Donald Trump allegedly performing oral sex, raising questions the committee cannot answer until the Department of Justice turns over records it has withheld, says U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Garcia insists the Trump White House is helping block them.

In a Friday afternoon interview with The Advocate, the out California lawmaker responded to a 2018 exchange, which was included in the emails released, between Jeffrey Epstein and his brother, Mark Epstein. In that message, Mark wrote that because Jeffrey Epstein had said he was with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, he should “ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba.”

“Bubba” is a nickname former President Bill Clinton has been known by; however, the email does not clarify who Mark Epstein meant, and the context remains unclear.

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USDA head says ‘everyone’ on SNAP will now have to reapply

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November 14, 2025

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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday said the Trump administration is planning to have all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries reapply for the program due to alleged fraud.

The secretary said after receiving data on SNAP recipients from 29 red states that “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check.”

“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue state data what we’re going to find?” she asked during a Thursday appearance on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”

“It’s going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program, have everyone reapply for their benefit, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through SNAP or food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable, and they can’t survive without it,” she added.

Every state has a periodic recertification process that requires SNAP or food stamp recipients to update their whereabouts and earnings, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most municipalities require updated data every six to 12 months.

“Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. “Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it. Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of State data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with States. “

Earlier this month, food stamps were threatened amid the government shutdown as the Trump administration argued against using contingency funds to fuel the welfare program.

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Trump orders Bondi to investigate Epstein’s ties to Clinton and other political foes

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November 14, 2025

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NEW YORK (AP) — Acceding to President Donald Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.

Bondi posted on X that she was assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe, capping an eventful week in which congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump.

Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.

Hours before Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he would ask her, the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.

Trump, calling the matter “the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans,” said the investigation should also include financial giant JPMorgan Chase, which provided banking services to Epstein, and “many other people and institutions.”

“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” the Republican president wrote, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election victory over Bill Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Asked later Friday whether he should be ordering up such investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I’m the chief law enforcement officer of the country. I’m allowed to do it.”

In a July memo regarding the Epstein investigation, the FBI said, “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

The president’s demand for an investigation — and Bondi’s quick acquiescence — is the latest example of the erosion of the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House since Trump took office.

It is also an extraordinary attempt at deflection. For decades, Trump himself has been scrutinized for his closeness to Epstein — though like the people he now wants investigated, he has not been accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s victims.

None of Trump’s proposed targets were accused of sex crimes

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