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David Amess killing: suspect referred to Channel counter-terror scheme in 2014

The suspect in the killing of the MP David Amess received extensive support under the government’s Channel counter-terrorism programme before his case was closed, the Guardian has learned.

Ali Harbi Ali was first referred to Prevent, the early intervention scheme designed to turn people away from the risk of supporting violence, as a teenager in 2014.

Each year a small proportion of the thousands referred to Prevent are then referred on to the Channel programme for more intensive support, overseen by a panel with expertise in deradicalisation and helping those deemed vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. Both programmes are voluntary and do not involve criminal sanctions.

Ali’s months-long referral to Channel may raise questions for ministers, police and security services. Officials point out that seven years elapsed between him being on Channel and being arrested on Friday on suspicion of murder, and believe his engagement with Channel was properly handled.

Ali was referred to the scheme while he was attending an educational establishment in London in 2014 over concerns about him being drawn towards an Islamist ideology. A source with knowledge of the case said: “He went through the process and was discharged.”

He was among the higher cohort of concern of people referred to Prevent. He voluntarily accepted referral to the scheme and went though its processes.

This involved having his vulnerability assessed and accepting support, the source said, adding: “He was not thought to pose a threat of terrorist violence and the case was closed.”

Official guidance says individuals with a “terrorism vulnerability” should be helped by Channel while those who are thought to pose a “terrorism risk” require action to be taken by police. The source said: “If we can stop people at a young age becoming criminals, that is good for society and for them.”

In the year to March 2020 there were 6,287 referrals to Prevent and 1,424 referrals to a Channel panel, 697 of which were adopted because of concerns an individual was at risk of radicalisation.

Ali’s father is said by friends and former colleagues to have been an outspoken critic of terrorism during his time as a senior official in the Somalian government. That has compounded the family’s shock after Ali’s arrest at the scene where Amess was repeatedly stabbed while holding a constituency surgery at a church.

Amess was a Conservative MP in Essex for 38 years. His killing has been declared a suspected terrorist incident by police.

Ministers have commissioned a review of the Prevent and Channel programmes, led by William Shawcross, a former head of the Charity Commission.

Leaks on Monday suggested it would be fast-tracked in the light of Amess’s death, with proposals to make it more security-oriented, giving police a greater role in panels drawing up intervention schemes and expanding the role of the intelligence agency MI5.

But several in the policing and intelligence community expressed scepticism about that approach. Sir Peter Fahy, the former chief constable of Greater Manchester police, who was national lead for Prevent, said he was worried it could deter families and institutions from reporting concerns if the security involvement was more explicit.

“The danger is greater police involvement damages the confidence of families and friends and education professionals to make referrals, if they think it is more likely to go down the law enforcement and intelligence route,” he said.

“We have been trying to stress that Prevent is about safeguarding. If there is a stronger police involvement, it makes it less like safeguarding and closer to intelligence gathering or investigative basis for the programme.”

MI5 has been keen to operate at arm’s length from Prevent. A person who has worked closely with the intelligence agencies in the past said that if sharing information about individuals with the security service became the norm, “it is not easy to see why people should cooperate with it”.

Muslim communities have made a string of criticisms of Prevent, arguing that it unfairly targets them and has encouraged trivial referrals, including against children.

In June it emerged that an 11-year-old primary school pupil was referred to Prevent after a teacher mistook the word “alms” for “arms” when the boy said he wanted to give “alms to the oppressed”.

But a new report from the Henry Jackson Society, a rightwing thinktank, says Prevent and Channel have lost focus on Islamist extremism, which accounted for 22% of Prevent referrals and 30% of Channel cases last year, while 90% of those on MI5’s watchlist of current and former suspects were Islamist.

The report’s author, Dr Rakib Ehsan, said there was “an all too real prospect of Islamist extremists who present a significant security risk not being sufficiently monitored by the public authorities”.

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Nigerians will soon enjoy improved Electricity supply — Power Minister

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has assured that Nigerians will soon start enjoying improved power supply across the country.

This was even as he stated that the totality of the re-enacted electricity act has changed the entire landscape of the power sector.

The Minister disclosed this at the 3rd edition of the Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria annual workshop in Abuja on Thursday.

According to him, the 2023 Electricity Act has liberalised electricity generation, transmission, and distribution while also empowering states, organisations, and even individuals to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity.

He noted that the key part of the 2023 Electricity Act is the development of the Integrated National Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan.

“We are working with the National Council on Power (NCP) to develop and send the implementation strategy to the FederalE Executive Council (FEC) for approval,” he said.

Also, he said, “Part of the strategy in our road map is the emphasis on the bottom-up approach, unlike the top-down approach of the past.

“The implication, with the bottom-up approach, is that we will prioritise metering, distribution, and transmission infrastructure. In the short term, we will focus on customers down to distribution and transmission infrastructure. This is to ensure that a significant portion of what is generated currently gets to end users.

“We will also pay attention to the generation segment, particularly in areas of distributed (embedded) power from renewable energy sources, while at the same time advancing base load power through thermal and hydroelectric plants in the medium to long term.”

He further noted that the administration would explore the country’s regional energy potential.

“We will focus on solar energy in the North, mini hydropower plants in the Middle Belt and the Southwest, hybridised with solar, while our coastal states will be identified for wind energy utilisation.

Taking all the above into consideration, especially with the liberalisation of the sector, Nigerians will soon start to experience the objective that led to the Act, which is improved power supply across the country,” he said

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Court Remands 14-year-old Suspected Killer of FUTMinna Lecturer

A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Minna, Niger State capital, has remanded a 14-year-old prime suspect, Joy Afekafe, over murder of Mrs. Funmilola Sherifat Adefolalu, an associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna.

The Nigerian Police, Niger State Command, arraigned the 14-year-old Afekafe on three count charges which include criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide and armed robbery.

The offences are in contrary to sections 97, 221 and 298 of the penal code law

The prosecution told Chief Magistrate Fati Hassan Umar that two other suspects in the crime: Wallex and Smart are still at large.

The prosecutor, DSP Ahmed Saidu told the court that the trio had invaded the residence of the deceased on the 28th of October 2023 ”where you took a knife in the kitchen and stabbed her all over her body.

”You also used a wooden stool and hit her on her head after which you carted away $3000, one laptop computer, one mobile phone, two power banks and a car battery.”

The prosecution added that as a result, “the victim was taken to the IBB Specialist hospital where she was confirmed dead by medical doctors”.

When the charge was read to Afekafe, she pleaded not guilty to the crime.

The prosecution pleaded with the court to remand the accused in the Correctional Centre to enable the Police forward the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution in the state Ministry of Justice for legal advice, adding that it is only the High Court that has jurisdiction to try the case.

Chief Magistrate Fati Hassan Umar directed that Afekafe be remanded at the Children Correctional Centre before adjourning the case to 11th of December, 2023 for further mention

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Missing N43bn Revenue: Reps Threaten To Issue Arrest Warrant on NAMA, MD

The House of Representatives on Wednesday threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against the Managing Director of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mohammed Odunowo, next Monday, over missing N43 billion revenue accruing from sales of both local and international air tickets between 2021 and 2022.

Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon. Abiodun James Faleke, issued the threat notice during the resumed hearing in Abuja, frowned at the level of disrespect for the Parliament.

Worried by the NAMA helmsman’s refusal to honour the two invitations sent to him by the Committee, Faleke said: “When we did the calculation, I recall that we recorded about N43 billion deficit. And of course, NCAA said they do not agree with the number provided by FAAN. The data whatever, that it couldn’t have been up to that

And FAAN said that this was not generated by them but generated by NAMA. And there’s a record – the ADR 16 that generates that. So, we asked them to come back with NAMA and with specific data from that ADR 16.

“And today, we have NCAA before us. Unfortunately NAMA is not here. I don’t know why, this is the second time, the next time we are going to issue a warrant of arrest on NAMA. If he fails to appear before us on Monday, we will issue warrant of arrest on NAMA boss,” he ruled.

After grilling the NCAA delegation, the Committee asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant General of the Federation to provide details of all the accounts being operated by Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).

While frowning at the Agency’s failure to provide the data from the ADR 16, the lawmakers emphasised the need for NCAA to provide relevant documents showing detailed reports of total passengers carried by all the airlines on monthly basis, how passengers carried to various destinations, ticket fees charged per airline and 5 percent of the charges.

The lawmakers also demanded for bank accounts of the five agencies that are involved in sharing of the 5 percent of the total revenue generated from air tickets was remitted to and the distribution pattern of that total sum as well as evidence of the distribution.

Worried by the inconsistency of the NCAA delegation’s explanation on the billable and non-billable airline operations, scheduled and non-scheduled aircraft operations as well as the chartered flights, the lawmakers underscored the need for relevant data to justify their claims.

While scrutinizing the NCAA’s presentation, Hon. Faleke frowned at the discrepancy between the total of 15,518,978 domestic passengers were recorded while 3,791,985 international passengers were recorded in 2018, as well as the number of billable departed passengers.

Worried by the lackadaisical attitude of NCAA towards due diligence, Hon. Faleke said: “The next time you appear here, we will not hesitate to take action that will affect your seat.”

He alleged that officials of the regulatory agency “are hiding the money, that’s why you refused to provide the data.

“You people have always reported negative balance. I’ve done so much research on all of you. We said we are looking for N43 billion, so bring the data but you refused.

“If you’re not ready to give us the documents, we will compel you to do it. And if you refuse you will not be in that office and somebody will produce it,” he vowed.

While responding, the NCAA delegation led by Captain Ibrahim Dambazau and Abubakar Dachi as well as the Director of Operations, said the ADR 16 is the only authentic document recommended globally for documents of aircrafts.

He added that operations of operators will be assigned with code and time of schedule for the aircraft.

According to the NCAA, the private chartered aircraft do not sell tickets hence those passengers are not charged.

In the bid to track the missing fund, Hon. Faleke harped on the need for all the beneficiaries of the 5 percent including, NAMA, NCAA, NCAT, NSIB, NiMET to give account of their stewardship.

To this end, the Committee resolved that all the stakeholders should appear on the 14th December with all the records requested for.