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Asylum Seekers Placed In ‘Unsuitable’ Blackpool Hotel

Asylum seekers placed in ‘unsuitable’ Blackpool hotel despite council protests

Blackpool council has accused the Home Office and Serco of deliberately acting to frustrate the justice system after placing asylum seekers in a hotel, despite objections that the accommodation was wholly unsuitable.

About 140 people, mostly families, have moved into the Grand Metropole on Blackpool promenade. Blackpool council had said using the hotel for temporary accommodation required planning consent and it had been going to seek a court injunction on Monday in an attempt to stop the arrangement.

The seaside resort is particularly busy at present. The Blackpool Illuminations light show runs until 3 January and the town is also hosting the World Fireworks Championships near the hotel, likely to cause disruption and noise to the hotel’s vulnerable residents.

Blackpool is the latest council to express concern about the suitability of housing asylum seekers in hotels. Earlier this month, a report documented the deterioration in the mental and physical health of asylum seekers in Glasgow when housed in hotels.

Lynn Williams, the Labour leader of Blackpool council, said the local authority was promised it would be informed in advance of any arrivals, and that nobody would be placed in the hotel before Monday at the earliest. However, people were moved in overnight on Sunday and in the early hours of Monday morning, with more expected this week.

Williams said the council had received no official notification until Monday lunchtime, despite the assurances sought on behalf of local health leaders, who said services were facing unprecedented demand.

The council leader said she was “further disappointed” that the Home Office and Serco had made the move after being informed the council was seeking an injunction, with a court hearing scheduled for Monday. “I am saddened that they have acted in a way that smacks of a deliberate move to frustrate the justice system,” she said.

Williams urged Blackpool residents to show compassion and understanding to the “very vulnerable families and children who have arrived with us here in Blackpool”. She said the council would work to ensure that the “appropriate support” was in place for the families, and would be reviewing its legal position.

Serco and the Home Office have been criticised for placing asylum seekers in Britannia hotels in Wolverhampton and Wigan this month. Lisa Nandy, the town’s MP, said that the hotel, which has been targeted by a far-right group, had previously been deemed “completely unsuitable accommodation” for asylum seekers.

The leader of Wolverhampton council, Ian Brookfield, also accused Serco of lacking humanity, when 200 Afghan families were placed in the city without warning. “Some of them have arrived here in a terrible state, there’s people with no clothes, no nappies for the kids,” Brookfield said. “We know Serco are running this, but they could at least put a little bit of humanity into it. As a council, we are left out of the whole process.”

Serco was one of the three outsourcing firms awarded the contract to house asylum seekers in 2019, despite having been fined nearly £7m for previous failings. The firm, which has the contract for housing in the north-west, the Midlands and the east of England, said hotels were used only as a “last resort”.

“With the significant increases in the number of people arriving in the UK we have been faced with no alternative but to temporarily accommodate some asylum seekers in hotels”, said Jenni Halliday, Serco’s contract director for asylum accommodation services.

According to Home Office statistics, there were 31,115 asylum applications in the UK in the year ending June 2021, 4% fewer than the previous year. The government has promised to allow 20,000 Afghan refugees to settle in the UK, with 5,000 expected to arrive by the end of 2021.

The Home Office said that the “unprecedented demand” meant temporary accommodation such as hotels has had to be used “to manage demands on the asylum estate”. It said the Home Office had met local police, public health providers and officers from Blackpool council, and that all hotels used by the Home Office met health and safety legislation.

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Gov Nwifuru congratulates Mbata on emergence as Ohanaeze president General

Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru has congratulated the newly elected President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Senator Mbata.

Nwifuru said with the experiences Senator Mbata has garnered in various theatres, taking the organisation to yet another level of growth is indubitable.

This is contained in a statement issued on Sunday, by his Chief Press Secretary, Dr Monday Uzor and made available to journalists in Abakaliki.

The Governor says, “Sen Mbata your emergence is a testament to your outstanding leadership qualities, dedication, and the confidence reposed in you by our people.

“This pivotal role offers an opportunity to unite and advance the interests of our ethnic group, promoting our rich cultural heritage, values, and aspirations.

“I am confident that under your able leadership, you will continue to serve as a beacon of progress, fostering unity, development, and a stronger sense of identity among the Igbo people”.

While assuring greater collaboration with the apex Igbo socio-cultural body, Governor Nwifuru asserted “Please be assured of my administration’s support as we work collaboratively to uplift our communities and address the challenges facing our people”

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Tinubu approves ban on homosexuality in Nigeria’s military

Nigeria’s military personnel have been banned from engaging in homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, cross-dressing, and other acts deemed contrary to the ethics of the country’s armed forces.

The nation’s military personnel were also barred from body piercing, tattooing, disorderly behaviour and drunkenness on or off duty.

The fresh directive is contained in Section 26 of the revised Harmonised Armed Forces Terms and Conditions of Service signed by President Bola Tinubu on December 16, 2024, a copy sighted by DAILY POST’S correspondent at the weekend.

Also, the condition of service prohibited military personnel from joining secret cults and owning private businesses.

“An officer must not engage in homosexuality, lesbianism, or bestiality.

“He/she is not to belong to or engage in activities of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Trans, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual or Agender, Two-Spirit, LGBTQIA2S+, group and cross-dressing, amongst others.
“An officer must not engage in body piercing and tattooing of any part of his body. An officer shall not engage in any form of disorderly behaviour, brawl, or any action of public disgrace. An officer must not at any time be drunk, whether on or off duty.”

The condition of service also forbids the involvement of officers in amorous relationships with subordinates or their spouses.

The military personnel are obligated to pay financial dues, including vehicle licenses and insurance, on time, while they are prohibited from joining secret societies or political parties.

“An officer shall pay all just financial obligations in a proper and timely manner, especially those imposed by law and mutual contract. It is a very serious offence for an officer to be apprehended for failure to license or insure his vehicle and other legal financial obligations. In the same vein, the issuance of a dud cheque constitutes an offence.

“An officer shall not hold membership in any secret society or political party. He shall not participate, in any way, in activities concerned with such societies or parties, even in observatory capacities.

“For the avoidance of doubt, since cultural or purely traditional religious societies are not normally secret by membership or in the conduct of their affairs, they are ipso facto expelled from belonging to secret societies.”

“An officer shall not engage in private business. He shall not use or be allowed to use government property, his name, position, and connection in any way with commercial enterprises outside employment or activity with or without compensation, which interfere or has the tendency of interfering with his official duty or which may be reasonably expected to bring discredit to the Service,” the document stated.
Meanwhile, the document did not spell out punishments or disciplinary measures against any personnel who violates the rules.

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Kano Emirship tussle: Bayero rejects Appeal Court judgement, heads for Supreme Court

Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero has rejected the judgement of the Appeal Court which nullified a Federal High Court order that removed Muhammadu Sanusi II as the 16th Emir of Kano.

Bayero on Sunday said he is heading to Supreme Court to challenge the appeal court verdict.

Speaking to newsmen at the Nasarawa Palace of the 15th Emir Of Kano, the Sarkin Dawaki Babba, Aminu Babba DanAgundi, who filed the suit that was struck out by the Appeal Court, said, “Sanusi did not even understand that he has completely lost out in the whole of the cases at hand.

“That is why I expressed regrets over remarks by the 16th Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II, using the Mosque pillar to propagate something that was not true and did not happen at the Appeal Court.

“We initially went to Federal High Court seeking the nullification of the repeal law by the State Assembly, which we felt was done haphazardly.”

DanAgundi further warned Sanusi to stop parading himself as the Emir of Kano.

“The position of Muhammadu Sanusi II that he emerged victorious was wrong, the court said that the Federal High Court has no legal right to hear issues with regards to chieftaincy affairs. But what we went to court for was different.

“We were not arguing on the powers of State Assembly to enact of repeal laws, what we were asking was lack of fair hearing on the 15th Emir Aminu Ado Bayero, that he was removed without given him chance to protect himself.

“The State Assembly didn’t follow the right procedures in repealing the laws,” he added.

He asked the Police and the DSS to stop Sanusi from allegedly moving around with thugs, accusing the Emir of plotting to disrupt peace in Kano.

According to him, Sanusi will not claim victory until the Supreme Court judgement has been given.

“The Attorney General and Speaker of the Kano State Assembly went to court seeking to stop Bayero from parading himself as Emir, but the Appeal Court rejected that position and said that Bayero was not given fair hearing.

“By this it clearly shows that Bayero is still the Emir of Kano.”