The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Monday, upheld the conviction of a watchman, earlier found guilty by the trial court of raping a female student at the Kogi State Polytechnic, Osara Campus in September 2018.

A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Joseph Oyewole, in a unanimous judgement, agreed with the trial court’s findings and affirmed the guilt of Macaulay Masayete.

“My lords, I agree with the learned trial judge that the evidence of PW1 (survivor) is clear and unambiguous,” Okon Abang, a member of the panel, said in his lead judgement agrees to by other panel members

The Kogi State High Court had in 2019 found guilty of raping an 18-year-old undergraduate of the polytechnic.

Consequently, the court sentenced the convict to 10 years’ imprisonment.

But, Mr Masayete who was 39 years old at the time of the offence, approached the appellate court to have his conviction overturned.

Reviewing the evidence before the trial court on Monday, the Court of Appeal recalled the horrific experience of the undergraduate at Mr Masayete’s hands on the night of 13 September 2018.

“He (Mr Masayete) dragged me across the road and tore my clothes and forced himself and had carnal knowledge of me. After that he said I did not satisfy him and he demanded N10,000. He deflowered me, he also intimidated me with a cutlass,” the justice recalled the survivor’s testimony before the court in Kogi State.

To substantiate the allegation against Mr Masayete, the justice said the prosecution needed to prove three major ingredients of the case.

Mr Abang noted that the prosecution proved beyond reasonable that the watchman had sexual intercourse with the student whom he was meant to protect.

He further held that the sexual intercourse between the convict and the teenager was not consensual, and that there was no evidence to show that Mr Masayete and the student were married.

“The appellant failed to challenge the documentary proof and oral evidence given by PW1 (survivor) against him. The trial court was right in believing the survivor that indeed the appellant had sexual intercourse with the survivor.”

The justice agreed with the trial court that the evidence of a medical doctor corroborated the fact that the student was raped.

“At the clinic, I examined her and noticed bruises on both shoulders. I examined her vagina and observed that there was penetration,” the doctor had testified at the lower court.

“In conclusion, the appellant’s sole issue is hereby resolved in favour of the respondent against the appellant. The appeal lacks merit and it is accordingly dismissed. The judgement of the trial court dated 11 December 2019 is hereby affirmed,” Mr Abang said.

On 13 September 2018, the undergraduate was at the polytechnic’s Utility Hall reading alongside other students when there was a power outage around midnight.

As the teenager was about to leave the hall, Mr Masayete arrived and picked a quarrel with her reading partner.

In the process, there was a scuffle that led to the breaking of Mr Masayete’s torchlight.

Subsequently, the watchman insisted that his broken torchlight must be fixed by the two students.

While the male student left the hall to get some money to pay for the damaged torchlight, Mr Masayete whisked the teenage girl away from the reading hall to another building across the campus where he raped her.

The survivor testified that Mr Masayete wore a condon before he raped her.

In his analysis of evidence before the court, the justice said Mr Masayete “tortured and physically harassed” the teenager.

Mr Abang recalled Mr Masayete’s confessional statement where he admitted raping a girl four years before the September 2018 incident involving the undergraduate.

“The appellant voluntarily confessed having raped a girl four years before 13 September 2018. This statement was admitted in evidence without the objection of the appellant. This is a confessional statement that was given without any form of coercion.”

He said Mr Masayete’s conduct demonstrated “crass deprivation of moral rectitude.”

The justice said Mr Masayete was employed as a watchman to protect the students, but he decided to abuse the helpless situation of the survivor.

In his defence, Mr Masayete said he caught the teenager having sexual intercourse with her reading partner inside the hall when electricity went off around midnight on 13 September, 2018.

He told the court that the two students pleaded with him not to report the “indecent conduct” to the polytechnic authorities as they were willing to do anything to settle the matter.

The convict further said he confiscated the students’ mobile telephones and their clothes after taking their photographs.

In one breath, the watchman said he left the hall to the security office on the school campus, but in another breath Mr Masayete said he went to the school clinic for surveillance after the incident at the hall.

Evaluating his evidence, Mr Abang said the convict was not a witness of truth.

The judge said Mr Masayete’s testimony was filled with inconsistencies.

“It is my view that the appellant is not a witness of truth. He said he went to the clinic for surveillance and in another breath said he went to the security office. The appellant had the intention to have sexual intercourse with the survivor.”

On 15 May 2018, Mr Masayete was arraigned before the trial court for the offence of rape.

The offence was was said to violate section 283 of the Penal Code.

He pleaded not guilty to the offence.

In order to discharge the burden of proof placed on it by Section 135 of the evidence Act 2011, the prosecution called five witnesses including the rape survivor; (name withheld to protect her identity), Isah Jibrin, a medical doctor; and Matthew Yakubu, a police officer.

Officers of the Akwa Ibom Police Command have arrested a self-kidnap suspect, Imaobong Sampson, and her boyfriend, Beltus Ebong, in Mbierebe Obio village, Ibesikpo Asutan Area of the state.

This was disclosed by the spokesperson for the state police command, Odiko Macdon, on Monday.

Macdon said the suspects were nabbed in their hideout by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad after the case of kidnapping was reported by someone who identified herself as a relative last week Monday.

“On 11/3/2024 at about 10:00hrs, a report was received from one Enobong Sampson ‘F’ of Nung Oku Village in Ibesikpo Asutan L.G.A that her sister, one Imaobong Francis Sampson, was kidnapped and that the kidnappers were demanding for a ransom of four million naira.

“As a result, operatives of Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the command embarked on an intense and intelligence-driven investigation so as to track down the perpetrators and rescue the victim. On 12/3/2024 at about 23:15hrs, the said purported victim, one Imaobong Sampson ‘M’, and her boyfriend, Beltus Ebong ‘M’, were arrested in their hideout at Mbierebe Obio Village, Ibesikpo Asutan L.G.A,” he stated.

Macdon said the suspect, Imaobong, confessed that the kidnap was staged between her and her syndicate for the purpose of extorting money from her aunt.

“She confessed to having conspired with her boyfriend, one Beltus Ebong ‘M’, Dominic Friday Charlie ‘M’, her sister, Enobong Sampson ‘F’, and Inyene Ime Akpan now at large to proclaim her kidnap in order to raise money from her aunty who is based abroad,” he concluded.

The Abuja Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has handed over documents of recovered properties and 324 houses to Kano State pensioners.

According to the EFCC, the houses were fraudulently sold to cronies of two unnamed former governors of Kano State.

While handing over the documents of the 324 properties worth N4.1billion to the pensioners on Monday, the Abuja zonal commander of the EFCC, Assistant Commander of the EFCC, Adeniyi Adebayo, assured that the EFCC would continue to do its best to rid the nation of fraudulent practices.

Also, representatives of the Kano State Pension Board, Alhaji Hassan Muhammed Aminu, Kubra Ahmad Bichi and Salisu Yakubu Abubakar, who received the documents on behalf of the workers and pensioners, expressed delight and joy with the EFCC for assisting them in recovering the houses.

EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said the handing over of the houses followed a final forfeiture order granted by Justice I.E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting Abuja, after a successful investigations carried out by the anti-graft commission over a N4.1billion Pension Trust Fund contributed by the pensioners to own houses, which was fraudulently denied them by two successive administrations in Kano State.

He said, “the commission investigated a petition by Concerned Kano State Workers and Pensioners of alleged misappropriation of pension funds in the state. Findings by the EFCC showed that the state government entered into a tripartite agreement with the Kano State Pension Trust Fund to build housing estates for an aggregate sum of N41 billion out of which the Pension Trust Fund was to contribute N4.1billion.

“However, the contribution of the pensioners was used to build the houses in three estates located in Sheikh Ja’afar Mahmud Adam Bandirawo City, Sheikh Nasiru Kabara (Amana) city and Sheikh Khalifa Ishaq Rabiu City, all in Kano State and two former governors of the state fraudulently discounted and sold the houses to their cronies and associates, leaving the pension trustees with low budget and uncompleted houses.

“The EFCC stepped in and upon completion of investigation, filed for and acquired a final forfeiture order of the 324 properties to the Kano State Pension Fund Trustees.”

The casualties are not only those who are dead/They are well out of it/The casualties are not only those who are dead/Though they await burial by installment/The casualties are not only those who are lost/Persons or property, hard as it is/To grope for a touch that some/May not know is not there/The casualties are not only those led away by night/The cell is a cruel place, sometimes a haven/Nowhere as absolute as the grave/The casualties are not only those who started/A fire and now cannot put out/Thousands/Are burning that have no say in the matter/The casualties are not only those who are escaping/The shattered shall become prisoners in/A fortress of falling walls/The casualties are many and a good member as well/Outside the scenes of ravage and wreck/They are the emissaries of rift/So smug in smoke-rooms they haunt abroad/They do not see the funeral piles/At home eating up the forests/They are wandering minstrels who, beating on/The drums of the human heart, draw the world/Into a dance with rites it does not know./The drums overwhelm the guns../caught in the clash of counter claims and charges/When not in the niche of others left/We fall/All casualties of the war….” – John Pepper Clark, The Casualties (1970)

These prefatory lines are taken from J.P. Clark’s “The Casualties” (1970), a most poignant poem written by one of the masters of the genre in Nigerian literature on the civil war of 1967 -70. Clark’s lines are simple and clear enough; relevant as they were in 1970, they remain just as relevant today, 54 years later, as they offer an apt description of the tragedy that occurred in the coastal community of Okuama in Delta State on Thursday, March 14, and the aftermath of that slaughter of 17 (initially reported to be 16) soldiers who were reportedly on a peace mission. The fact that we have to go back to a 1970 poem speaks not simply to the eternity of good literature, but more to the fact that indeed the civil war is yet to end. We remain perpetually in a state of war and we are all as the poet says, “casualties”. Both the men and women in uniform, sworn to defend the integrity, and sovereignty of Nigeria, as well as ordinary civilians are trapped in the vortex of centrifugal forces and fault-lines which again and again, result in tragedy and anarchy. No one is safe.  When a people turn against the same men who have been assigned to protect them, there can be no stronger proof of the failure of the state. The murder of four officers and 13 other ranks in Okuama is as President Bola Tinubu has pointed out, in a personally signed statement, “a direct attack on our nation”, and further, an affront on the very values that make us human. Murder was not enough for the killers, they reportedly went ahead to dismember some of their victims, and harvested their organs in what points to modern-day cannibalism and sheer cruelty. 

I am however shocked to no end by the kind of conspiracy theories that have been thrown up by some interested parties with necrophilous prejudices of their own. The most shocking is the suggestion that the men of the 181 Amphibious Battalion asked for their own death because they went to the community without permission from the traditional rulers and elders of Okuama. Or that the soldiers and their commander openly took sides with the Ijaw-Okoloba community in a land dispute with Okuama, hence they were not about to make peace. One spokesperson for Okuama has in fact alleged that the soldiers stormed the community and killed three persons, shot at anything on sight, and that the tragedy that followed was because angry youths of the community decided to fight back. Other persons who claim to know the politics of the area very well also argue that the soldiers in that area of responsibility, to use a military phrase, are corrupt and that the people know this for a fact and that is why the youths do not respect them. Within 72 hours after the murder, there were reports that Okuama had been besieged by unknown soldiers who set the entire community ablaze. These same unknown soldiers are said to be patrolling the creeks. The people of the community have fled towards Ughelli. They have become refugees away from their own land. Okuama is a ghost town. I have again heard some concerned parties arguing that the reprisal is unacceptable, because when soldiers are killed in the North, as in Niger state for example, Nigerian soldiers do not engage in reprisal killings, but if one soldier is killed in the South South, hell breaks loose as was the case in the Ijaw town of Odi, Bayelsa State on November 20, 1999. 

I ask: how does any of these theories and arguments justify the cold-blooded murder of soldiers who were on active duty? Such views can only be expressed in a country that is on the brink of failure. The conflict between Okoloba (Ijaw) and Okuama (Urhobo) communities was said to have been caused by a dispute over land. Leo Tolstoy has asked “How much land does a man need?” in a short story of the same title written in 1886. But here in Africa, so much sentimental value is attached to land, not a little blood has been shed over the centuries for it. In Nigeria, conflict over land is at the centre of perennial communal border clashes, indigene/settler acrimony and farmer-herder conflicts turning the entire country from the coast to the savannah into a vast theatre of war. What should bother us is why the military, whose functions are properly defined in Section 217 (2) of the 1999 Constitution and the Armed Forces Act of 1994, would end up settling land disputes between communities! We have complained endlessly that there must be a limit to the use of the Nigerian military for police work. Nigeria has become so insecure, the internal war has gone on for so long, that soldiers now man check-points across the country. It is even not unusual to see soldiers in uniform providing security at weekend, “owambe” parties or serving as bodyguards to the rich. Familiarity breeds contempt. In other countries, soldiers are respected for their service to the nation. I once saw a group of Marines arriving at an airport in the United States. Everyone at the airport lounge stood up and applauded them – a grateful people appreciating those who defend the sovereignty of their country. It is unfortunate that here in Nigeria, we kill our own soldiers. This is strange and unacceptable. The children of those soldiers have now become fatherless, their wives have become widows, their families have lost their loved ones. “All casualties…”

Those who argue that there would have been no reprisal if the soldiers had been killed in the North forget that the main issue is the erosion of human values in our country. We share a common humanity but the hardship and bad politics in Nigeria have robbed us of a sense of what it means to be human, hence the spread of violence, criminality and impunity from North to South, East to West. Those who seek to play politics with everything, including murder, are casualties of primordial emotions. They forget that there was a similar reprisal by unknown soldiers in Zaki Biam on October 12, 2001, when soldiers went to avenge the killing of their men in that community. The revenge mission was titled “Operation No Living Thing”. Some people claim that Zaki Biam is not Northern enough, and that is precisely the problem with Nigerians. We are too divisive. Just as the murder of soldiers is wrong and must be condemned, reprisal killing, resort to extra-judicial killing and jungle justice is also condemnable. No one, soldier or civilian, has any right to take the laws into their hands. The fact that jungle justice rules the land is indeed why we are all victims. The people of Odi, whose houses were razed, and their women were raped, and the people of Zaki Biam who were openly executed have not recovered from the horror of that experience. Okuama community in Delta state may never recover from the scorched earth attack inflicted on it. No citizen should be subjected to such agony. 

Where is the Delta State government? In a statement issued by Brig-Gen Tukur Gusau, Acting Director of Information, Defence Headquarters, we were told that the matter had been reported to the Delta State Government. Governor Sheriff Oborevwori would later condemn the killings as “despicable” and promise that the state government will take “all necessary measures” to protect lives and property in the state. What could those necessary measures possibly be? The Land Use Act (1979) vests the ownership of land in state Governors as trustees, but in the event of land-related conflicts, state Governors are either totally helpless or even complicit as they surreptitiously try to defend the interests of their own ethnic groups. Conflicts in Delta State over the years have been far beyond the capacity of the Governors. It will be no different with Oborevwori, who himself needs as much help as the people.  If he had any ideas about what to do, the tragedy at Okuama could have been prevented. The conflict must have been brewing over time until it reached a boiling point. 

President Tinubu has written as follows: “I extend my profound condolences to the families of these fallen heroes, their colleagues, and their loved ones. The military high command is already responding to this incident. The cowardly offenders responsible for this heinous crime will not go unpunished. The incident, once again, demonstrates the dangers faced by our servicemen and women in line of duty. I salute their heroism, courage and uncommon grit and passion.” He added: “The Defence Headquarters and Chief of Defence Staff have been granted full authority to bring to justice anybody found to have been responsible for this unconscionable crime against the Nigerian people.” Certainly, the President struck the right notes of empathy; signing the statement personally as President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is also a good gesture that matches the gravity of the problem. Morale must be very low among the troops - to be killed by an enemy on the battle-field is occupational hazard, but to be slaughtered at home by the same people they have taken an oath to protect and defend is worse. The families of the 17 fallen soldiers deserve every support that they can get, including counselling. We mourn the fallen heroes: Lt. Col. AH Ali, Commanding Officer, 181 Amphibious Battalion, Major SD Shafa, Maj. DE Obi, Capt. U Zakari, SSgt. Yahaya Saidu, Cpl. Yahaya Danbaba, Cpl Kabiru Basir, LCpl. Bulus Haruna, LCpl. Sole Opeyemi, LCpl. Bello Anas, LCpl. Hamman Peter, LCpl. Ibrahim Abdullahi, Pte Alhaji Isah, Pte Clement Francis, Pte Abubakar Ali, Pte Ibrahim Adamu and Pte Adamu Ibrahim. The President has called for “justice”. The investigations and arrests being carried out by the Defence Headquarters must result in a situation whereby the long arm of the law catches up with those who killed the soldiers, those who inflicted jungle justice on the community and destroyed lives and properties, those who caused the conflict between the two communities of Okuama and Okoloba, and any person(s), be they chiefs, youths or ordinary indigenes who may be trying to profit in whatever form from the crisis. 

The investigation must also address certain cogent questions: what was the peace mission all about? Who authorized the deployment of troops and under what circumstances?  How did the youths of Okuama get the sophisticated weapons with which they waged war against Nigerian soldiers? Why is it that the soldiers could not defend themselves? How equipped were they, even on a peace mission, military work requires an advance knowledge of the threat situation at a chosen destination or is that not so? And how on earth did soldiers become involved in a land dispute? It would perhaps be advisable to set up an independent panel of inquiry, and for the military to review the scope of the involvement of its personnel in the Niger Delta. The Okuama narrative is at best a developing story, “caught in the clash of counter claims and charges.” In order not to keep ending up as “casualties”, the people of Urhobo Ewu Kingdom and the Ijaws along the Forcados river must learn to live together in peace.  And as for the rest of us, the instructive question is: who really is safe when armed soldiers are killed so easily by irate youths? I guess not even the dead who are also now being kidnapped from cemeteries by graveyard bandits.

The traditional ruler of Riruwai Village in Lame District in Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Alhaji Garba Badamasi, was abducted and brutally murdered by suspected gunmen.

Reports indicate that the gunmen on March 15, 2024, stormed the palace of Alhaji Badamasi, instilling fear among residents with their sporadic gunshots before forcibly taking him captive.

LEADERSHIP gathered that the abductors made no attempt to contact any of the family members of the late Badamasi for ransom, leaving the motive behind the heinous act shrouded in mystery.

Tragically, after enduring a day in captivity, the lifeless body of
Alhaji Badamasi was discovered close to the village.

Villagers, desperate in their search for their traditional leader, stumbled upon his remains in the bush after spending a day in captivity.

Strong indications have emerged that a potential problem of scarcity of the e-passport booklets is looming, occasioned by the non-payment of huge production debt to vendors and major stakeholders involved in the value chain of the travel document.

LEADERSHIP learnt that unless the federal government, through the offices of the minister of finance and the accountant general of the federation (AGF), halts its monthly deduction of the whooping 50 per cent fund from the income paid into the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Treasury Single Account (TSA) from passport sales, specifically opened for the acquisition of the e-passports, the looming shortage of the travel document may not be averted.

A top source at the passport office at the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters, who wished to remain anonymous, explained that the misconception is that the gross income paid by passport applicants goes directly to the NIS TSA, from where the service is supposed to make payment to all stakeholders involved in the passport value chain.

He lamented that, unfortunately, before the said income drops, the federal government, which regards the money as net income, takes out 50 per cent, leaving the Immigration service with nothing reasonable to service their vendors and all stakeholders involved in the passport production process.

He said, “Let me give you an example, the cost of the 32-page passport booklet outside Nigeria is $132, while the cost of the 64-page category is $230. If you apply outside Nigeria and you pay in dollars, the money goes straight into the Federal Account which is shared amongst the three tiers of government every month by the Federation Account Committee (FAAC).”

The officer, who confirmed that there is currently a shortage of the 32-page booklets across the 48 passport-issuing outlets outside Nigeria, and the 44 outlets in the country, however, acknowledged that the agency presently has the 64-page booklets in excess but that the demand for it was very low.

“Our service providers are owed over N16 billion while printed booklets are stuck in warehouses due to our inability to offset these huge debts,” he said.

The source explained that there are booklets to be delivered to the NIS by the printers, but they are stuck in Nigeria Customs Service and DHL warehouses due to the huge debts owed them.

“The Customs Service, DHL and two Nigerian banks are amongst service providers that are insisting on the payment of their outstanding N16 billion balance before the documents would be released to us. As a matter of fact, we are meant to understand that the manufacturing firms based Slovenia, Malaysia, and another in Malta handling the e-passport projects are yet to be reimbursed in line with our agreement to always make payment two weeks after printing and supplying the e-passports,” he stated.

Another competent source at the Ministry of Interior told our correspondent that the minister of interior, Dr Tunji-Ojo, who is worried that the frightening threat of passport booklets shortage might hinder the ongoing passport reforms, single handedly sourced for and obtained grants of about N10 billion from outside the system to salvage the mess. However, unfortunately, that amount cannot make any meaningful impact.

“As I speak to you, the minister isn’t relenting; he is still busy trying to get more, but the truth is that this move is not sustainable,” he said.

Major stakeholders and experts are insisting that things can only get back if the total monies deducted from the passport production TSA is returned to the rightful owners.

“We are at the verge of approaching our very understanding President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to stop the ACG, the Minister of Finance and the CBN, letting them know that the whooping 50 per cent they usually take is not actually theirs,” the source said.

Sports Kit manufacturing giant, Nike, has revealed Nigeria’s new 2024 home and away kits.

The design of the jersey will be the first time in three years that the Super Eagles use white as a main colour.

The Nike Nigeria 2024 home football shirt is predominantly white with green and red detailing.

The most unusual feature of the Nike Nigeria 2024 home shirt is that Nike have used the words ‘NAIJA’ on the front of the shirt instead of the Nigerian football crest.

This design is reminiscent of the Puma third shirt from the 21-22 season.

Nike combines the Nigeria 2024 home football shirt with white shorts and socks.

The Nike Nigeria 2024 away football shirt has a first in the country’s history.

The Nike Nigeria 2024 away kit is mainly black, combined with a green graphic design.

The green pattern of the Nigeria 2024 away jersey is inspired by the famous Nigerian rainforest.

Four days after seven passengers in an 18-seater bus were killed to retaliate the abduction of a pastor, his wife and their 13-month baby, their decomposing bodies have been found.

The bodies were found on Saturday in the bush in Maraba Baisa in Donga local government area of Taraba State while their baby is yet to be seen.

Until his sudden disappearance, Pastor Kumator Jacob Aba was with the African Church.

Aba was declared missing last Wednesday after he left his church in Bali, the headquarters of Bali local government area of Taraba State to attend a church congress in Donga on a motorcycle with his wife and baby.

While the pastor could not reach his destination, members of the African Church followed reports that some travellers of Tiv stock were killed on Maraba-Baisa Bali Road.

The head of Tiv traditional rulers in the state and the Ter Bali, Chief David Gbaa, told LEADERSHIP that the body of the pastor was found in the bush near Maraba Baisa when the youths and security agents conducted a search for him and his family.

He said when the bodies were found, they invited the police for proper documentation before they were evacuated to the morgue.

Gbaa said, “Pastor Jacob Aba is the pastor in Adi Parish of African Church in Bali. He left Bali last Wednesday to attend his church congress in Donga, he could not get to the destination and he did not return home after over three days.

“All the pastors of the parish were worried; the Tiv community was disturbed because of the level of killings going on within the Maraba area. We embarked on a search and yesterday being Saturday, 16th March, 2024, we found the decomposing bodies of the pastor and his wife in the bush.

“Their 13-month-old baby is still missing. The motorcycle they used for the trip is also nowhere to be found. We were accompanied to the scene by the police to evacuate the bodies,” Gbaa said.

The commissioner of police in the state, David Iloyonomon, did not respond when contacted over the incident.

However, Governor Agbu Kefas has since ordered for the arrest and prosecution of those behind the Donga killings.

A notable politician in Gombe State and former governorship aspirant, Abdulkadir Hamma Saleh, has donated the sum of N7.8 million to the executives of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to enable them observe Ramadan fast.

Saleh, also a former senatorial candidate, made the cash donation to the state executives, elders and ward chairmen of the party.

Gombe State PDP secretary Adamu Abubakar who disclosed the receipt of the assistance from the party chieftain expressed appreciation to him on behalf of the beneficiaries.

He lauded Saleh for the gesture and prayed to God to reward him.

The PDP secretary said the assistance would make the party stalwarts happy, especially in this period when Nigerian Muslims observe the Ramadan fast amid economic hardships.

Violence broke out between supporters of Trabzonspor and players from Fenerbahce after a match on Sunday in the Turkish top flight, which has been plagued by trouble this season.

A crowd of home supporters invaded the pitch at Trabzonspor’s stadium after the final whistle of an encounter that Fenerbahce won 3-2.

Images show a Trabzonspor fan enter the pitch and begin running towards the celebrating Fenerbahce players, some of whom reacted by running towards him to try and strike him.

Other fans then invaded the pitch as stewards tried to restore order.

Videos showed Belgian international Michy Batshuayi kicking a fan who had entered the pitch and Nigerian international Bright Osayi-Samuel punching another supporter.

In other images on social media, a fan can be seen to threaten a visiting player with a corner flag and Fenerbahce’s goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic receives a punch to the face.

Following the violent scenes, Turkey’s interior minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the opening of an investigation into the incident.

“After the Trabzonspor-Fenerbahce football match played this evening, an investigation has been initiated immediately to identify the spectators who entered the pitch and to investigate the incidents that took place at the end of the match,” he wrote on X.

“Incidents of violence on football pitches are never acceptable.”

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) called the events “unacceptable” and said in a statement that “the necessary criminal sanctions will be imposed on those responsible for these incidents”.

It is not the first time violence has been seen in the Turkish Super Lig this season.

The league was suspended for a week in December after a referee was attacked during a match between Ankaragucu and Rizespor.

Ankaragucu president Faruk Koca, alongside other men, attacked referee Halil Umut Meler on the pitch after the match, injuring the official.

A number of Fenerbahce trips to Trabzon in recent times have also been marred by violence.

A 2016 game against Trabzonspor was abandoned in the closing minutes after an assistant referee was attacked by a home supporter.

The year before that the Fenerbahce team bus came under attack from a gunman en route to the airport on the way back from the neighbouring Black Sea city of Rize, leaving the driver seriously injured.

In 2014 a match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce was called off at half-time after the Istanbul club’s players were pelted with objects thrown onto the pitch by home fans.

Trabzonspor, who won the Turkish title two years ago, also found themselves in the spotlight in 2015 when the club president locked the referee and his assistants inside the stadium overnight in protest at the decision not to award his team a penalty.

They were eventually released in the early hours of the following morning after a phone call from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.