JUST IN: Military announces two-year rule in Sudan, imposes state of emergency

The military in Sudan has formally announced the removal of Omar
Al-Bashir from office.

The Sudanese defence minister, Awad Ibn Auf, who led the
apparent coup on Thursday morning, said the constitution has been
suspended and the military will now be in charge of the country for
another two years.

A three-month state of emergency has also been imposed, as
protesters demand immediate set up of a democratic transition.
Several political prisoners held by Mr Al-Bashir are now being
released.

“I announce as minister of defence the toppling of the regime
and detaining its chief in a secure place,” Mr Ibn Auf said in a
televised address Thursday at about 2:00 p.m. local time. He will
lead the newly-inaugurated supreme military council.

Mr Ibn Auf said Sudan’s airspace would be shut for 24 hours,
while border crossings would be closed indefinitely.

Mr Al-Bashir was pushed out of office following five days of
massive protests across the country. The protesters initially
hailed the military for aiding their demand for Mr Al-Bashir’s
exit, but the suspension of the constitution in place of a military
rule for at least another two years could further plunge the
country into chaos.

The protesters said Mr Al-Bashir had ruled for 30 years and
demanded that no one near his power within that time should be
allowed near power again.

They vowed to continue the protest even though a curfew has been
imposed as part of the three-month state of emergency. It was
unclear whether the military was ready to violently resist the
protesters in its early days in power.

Osinbajo Tasks Cyber Experts to curtail
Cybercrime

Vice president, Federal republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi
Osinbajo has charged all stakeholders in the nation’s cyber space,
including National Assembly, cyber security experts, security and
other related Agencies, as well as private sector to collectively
share cyber security best practices and ensure speedy
implementation of requisite policies, to curtail cybercrime in the
country.

Osinbajo who was represented by the Minister of Communications,
Dr. Adebayo Shittu gave the charge today in Abuja while declaring
open Cyber Secure Nigeria 2019 conference with the theme
“Implementing Cyber Security and Data privacy practices in
Nigeria.”

According to him, no body, organization or entity is immune to
cyber-crime victimization as a result of sophistication and
severity of cybercrime particularly in 2018, hence the need for all
to jointly end the menace to ensure a secure Nigeria, otherwise
every internet user would be a victim.

He posited that cyber security has become so essential, as
individual and national development increasingly rely on
Information Communication Technology (ICT) which calls for
stringent regulations to be enacted and implemented to ensure
criminal elements don’t succeed in taking advantage on hapless
internet users.

In his words, “The collection and processing of personal data
raises significant privacy and data protection concerns for every
citizen; the legal remedy to this problem is data protection to
ensure privacy.”

The Vice President pointed out that the conference was apt and a
welcomed development in line with the key policy thrust of the
federal government through the Ministry of Communications in view
of the rampant activities of the cyber criminals and internet
scammers popularly known as “yahoo yahoo”.

Professor Yemi Osinbajo urged the participants to galvanized
ideas in combating cyber threat curtail cyber-crime and ensure data
privacy practices in Nigeria, as well as to produce useful outcome
for submission to the Federal government.

He promised that the Federal government shall surely articulate
various submissions emanating from the conference and put them to
use..

Earlier in his address, the President, cyber security experts
association of Nigeria, Remi Afon called on the Federal Government
to establish a national cyber security center that will be saddled
with the responsibility of coordinating and implementing cyber
regulations.

He expressed worry that cyber security threats landscape has
evolved rapidly and have increased in number and sophistication
which need to be quickly checked to attain a regime of secured
cyber space in Nigeria through concerted efforts from all critical
stakeholders.

Daniel Enoch (IOII)

For: Deputy Director (Press)