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TRAGEDY! Angry jilted man, drives through crowd, kills 35, leaves 45 injured
Xi Jinping, Chinese President, was among the people who spoke out in utter condemnation, as authorities in China are trying to manage the outcome of the tragedy, which saw a man ramming his vehicle into a crowd, killing no fewer than 35 people, following the outcome of a divorce gone-sour.
The angry man, was said to have driven the vehicle into a crowd of citizens keeping fit, after tearing through the gate, leaving 35 people dead instantly and another 45 with various degrees of injuries, with many of them landing in hospitals.
Reports say officials in Southern China moved in quickly with a security blanket on Wednesday at the site of the tragedy, described as the country’s deadliest attack in a decade, adding that the 62-year-old man surnamed Fan ploughed a small SUV through a gate to the complex in the city of Zhuhai and into crowds of people as they exercised on the roads inside.
The report, quoting the police, said authorities initially stopped at saying that many people had been injured but did not mention any deaths, while removing videos of the attack from China’s internet censors.
The attack was the deadliest since 2014, when a vehicle ramming and suicide bombing in the northwestern city of Urumqi killed 43 — including four assailants — and wounded more than 90, the report said, adding that residents and delivery drivers, were seen on Wednesday, laying bouquets at a gate — but within minutes the flowers were carried behind a cordon fence.
“What happened wasn’t a small incident,” a woman of about 50 told AFP, requesting anonymity to protect her privacy.
“We should remember those who passed away and not be so cold. I think more people in Zhuhai should come out here and lay some flowers in memorial,” she added.
A hashtag related to the attack shot to number one on the popular Weibo social media site but had been removed by Wednesday afternoon.
Many comments appeared to have been removed or restricted, though some managed to slip through the cracks.
“Such vibrant lives, taken away like this, leaving families shattered. The perpetrator must be strictly punished,” one user wrote.
Police said Fan was apprehended at the scene but was in a coma after self-inflicted knife injuries, preventing them from interrogating him.
But the force said preliminary enquiries suggested the attack was “triggered by (Fan’s) dissatisfaction with the division of property following his divorce.”
Security at the scene was tight on Wednesday, with plainclothes officers using their bodies and umbrellas to block AFP reporters from taking photos and videos.
Since Tuesday night, journalists had observed people placing candles and flowers near the site of the attack to commemorate the victims.
But cleaning staff removed the memorials in the early hours of Wednesday, with some telling AFP they were acting on an “order from the top”.
Officials at the site said the items were being moved to a “mourning hall” inside the complex with no access to the public.
Footage of Monday’s incident showed people lying motionless on the ground, while others were seen frantically attempting to resuscitate the seemingly unconscious.
Videos of the aftermath suggest the car roughly followed a busy exercise track on the western side of the sports centre, hurtling along the west side of the main stadium and the perimeter of another sports field in front of it.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged “all-out efforts” to treat the injured and “demanded punishing the perpetrator in accordance with the law”, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The incident took place as Zhuhai hosts China’s largest airshow, showcasing Beijing’s civil and military aerospace sector.
Violent crime is generally rare in China compared to many Western countries, but the Asian nation has witnessed a spate of deadly attacks in recent months.
In several cases, Beijing has described the killings as isolated incidents, or the motives of the perpetrators have not been publicly disclosed.
After the Zhuhai attack, Xi called on authorities to “strictly guard against the occurrence of extreme cases”, Xinhua reported.
Huang Kunming, the Communist Party chief of Guangdong province where Zhuhai is located, urged officials at a meeting to “deeply reflect” on the incident and take “stronger measures… to uphold security and stability”, local media reported.
And Beijing’s foreign ministry insisted Wednesday that “China is one of the safest places in the world”.
The country would “continue to take measures to ensure people’s safety and social stability,” spokesman Lin Jian told a regular press briefing in Beijing.
A man killed three people and wounded 15 in a knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai in October, while in July, police said a vehicle crashed into pedestrians in the central city of Changsha, killing eight.
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
“He is running in contempt of the court. Justice Lifu should be arrested because he is acting in contempt of the court which is a criminal act,” were the exact words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC), demonstrated its angst over the court ruling on Monday, ordering its de-registration as a political party in Nigeria.
A furious Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, told his host while appearing as a guest on Monday’s edition of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television that the judge of the Abuja Federal High Court who gave the order was actually playing with fire because of the consequences.
Directly accusing him of playing the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerged the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the party spokesman, was emphatic that the plan would not work, as head or tail, ADC must be on the ballot in all the elections.
Hear him: “There is a Court of Appeal order saying don’t hear this case until October 27. So, on what basis? You can’t place something on nothing. The Court of Appeal said don’t act on this until I hear it on October 27. So, on what basis did he deliver the judgement
“So, for us in the African Democratic Congress, what we’re convinced and they know is what they have done has no leg to stand on legally. What they want to do is to create doubts in the minds of the people that this ADC has too many legal cases, can we actually run on this? And to distract us. But we’re not distracted.
“We’re very clear. It was in spite of all they have done since ADC came on board that we ran one of the best and one of the most comprehensive direct primaries in the history of democracy in Nigeria. So, we are strong enough to withstand this. And that’s why I’m saying that we are going to contest in 2027. We’re ADC. We don’t buckle before dictatorship.”
Stressing on the implication of the judgement, which also affected Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators, he said it portended grave danger.
He added: “We are not surprised. We know that the Nigerian people believe that there is a problem with the judiciary, but what we did not expect is the level of judicial rascality that was demonstrated today.
“What we are saying is that we reject it in its totality, and we are saying that the people behind this are playing with fire. Hundreds, if not thousands, have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as candidates on the platform of the ADC.”
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