The South-west zonal Congress of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) which ended Monday evening has been adjudged to be one of the best outings of the party in the zone
The Congress, held in Osogbo, Osun state, has produced leaders for the zone despite bickerings and brickbats which preceded its conduct.
Former governor of Ekiti state, Mr Ayo Fayose, one of the contending voices in the zone has congratulated Ambassador Taofeek Arapaja on his emergence as the Southwest Zonal Chairman of the PDP.
He remarked that “like I said in my speech at the beginning of the congress that we should win together, we have indeed won together.
“Whatever may be our reservations on the issue of over-voting, we have chosen to look at the larger picture, which is the PDP.. We must, therefore, use our energy and resources to rebuild the party.
“Arapaja’s 343 and Olafeso’s 330 votes, have simply shown strength on the two sides. This should be explored by the party, going forward.
I thank the National Working Committee (NWC) for helping to bring this congress behind us.”
The Senator representing Ondo Central at the red chamber, Ayo Akinyelure, described the outcome of the Congress as a no victor, no vanguished
Alluding the success of the Congress to the leaders of the party in the zone, Akinyelure congratulated the two chairmanship contestants, Taofeek Arapaja and Eddy Olafeso,
Governor Seyi Makinde, the acclaimed Leader of PDP in the South West and former Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State for their victory at the poll.
He further lauded the party leadership from the Zone including former Governor Segun Oni of Ekiti State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former Governor of Osun State, Barr Eyitayo Jegede, the PDP flag bearer in Ondo State, for their show of maturity and commitment to the development of the patry in the South West geopolitical Zone.
The senator in a statement, praised political gladiators of PDP for the orderliness at the venue of the election and security agencies that ensured free, fair and transparent elections.
“This is what the Senator describes as victory for democracy under the leadership of PDP in the South West geopolitical Zone and national leadership of our great Party.”
The lawmaker urged stakeholders to see the results as credible and victory for PDP and for the contestants, to accept the results of the election as a giant step towards building the party towards producing the next president of Nigeria come 2023.
The Congress was not without its drama. Before it began, Fayose had issued a statement that thugs, numbering over 150, and wielding dangerous weapons, had surrounded the hotel where he lodged in a bid to attack him. He said they came in bus loads, and that he had to invite the Police to disperse them.
But the Congree also witnessed his reconciliation with Governor Makinde. The two had, for months on end, been at each other’s throat over the leadership of the party.
Fayose who had been claiming that position, finally recognised, and acknowledged Makinde as the leader. He pledged his loyalty to Makinde, and to the party. Both men publicly embraced.
Fayose’s loyalty to the party has been in doubt. He is alleged to be a mole, working for the Presidential ambition, in 2023, of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the APC.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has announced over 37 per cent drop in cases of pipeline vandalism across the country in the month of January 2021. This is contained in the Monthly Financial and Operations Report, MFOR, according to a press release by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, Dr. Kennie Obateru.
The report indicates that a total of 27 pipeline points were vandalized in January 2021 down from the 43 points recorded in December 2020.
The Mosimi Area accounted for 74 per cent of the vandalized points while Kaduna Area and Port Harcourt accounted for the remaining 22 per cent and 4% respectively.
The Corporation said it is continuously working in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders to reduce and eventually eliminate the pipeline vandalism menace.
To guarantee energy security, NNPC said it supplied a total of 1.44billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), translating to 46.30million liters/day, across the country in the period under review.
In the Gas sector, a total of 223.55Billion Cubic Feet (BCF) of natural gas was produced in the month of January 2021, translating to an average daily production of 7,220.22 Million Standard Cubic Feet per Day (mmscfd). The 223.55BCF gas production figure also represents a 4.79 per cent increase over output in December 2020, the government oil company said.
According to the statement, the daily average natural gas supply to gas power plants increased by 2.38 per cent to 836mmscfd, equivalent to power generation of 3,415MW, while for the period of January 2020 to January 2021, a total of 2,973.01BCF of gas was produced representing an average daily production of 7,585.78 mmscfd during the period.
Period-to-date Production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts, PSCs and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC contributed about 65.20 per cent, 19.97 per cent and 14.83 per cent respectively to the total national gas production.
It further stated that “out of the total gas output in January 2021, a total of 149.24BCF of gas was commercialized consisting of 44.29BCF and 104.95BCF for the domestic and export markets respectively. This translates to a total supply of 1,428.65mmscfd of gas to the domestic market and 3,385.57mmscfd to the export market in the month under review.
“This indicates that 67.15 per cent of the daily gas output was commercialized while the balance of 32.85 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel, or flared.
Gas flare rate was 7.73 per cent for the month under review (i.e. 554.01mmscfd) compared with average gas flare rate of 7.19 per cent (i.e. 539.69mmscfd) for the period of January 2020 to January 2021, ” the oil company said.
Ibadan, the Oyo state capital was soaked in tension recently after Sunday Igboho, Yoruba activist and enforcer refused to honor an invitation from the former IGP Mohammed Adamu.
The matter, Presidential sources said, was one of the reasons for the sack of Adamu, even though the jail break in Imo state last week, where close to 2000 inmates were freed, and Government property worth several millions of Naira destroyed added to his ouster as Nigeria’s number one cop.
Adamu was in Owerri on official duty when President Muhammadu Buhari announced his sack. His sudden removal came as a shock to many Nigerians, considering that President Buhari had recently, in February, extended his tenure for another three months, despite public outbursts against the action. The extension was expected to last till May.
President Buhari has since appointed Usman Alkali Baba to replace him and the arrest of Igboho and other separatist leaders are said to be on top of the Presidency’s brief to the Inspector General of Police.
The new IGP had been decorated with his new rank by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who gave him a marching order to flush out criminal elements across the country.
“The IGP has met with top commanders of the Force last week with a direct order to arrest and prosecute all troublemakers in the country. As part of the Management Team of the former IGP, he knows what’s happening, and has assembled the best men and women in the Force to deal with insecurity in the country. On top of the plate is to deal with secessionist elements who are setting the country on fire with their unguarded comments. It is the duty of the Force to deal decisively with this problem before it gets out of hand,” a top Police officer in Abuja told the magazine.
Speaking in Abuja after Adamu handed over to him Alkali said his first task is to arrest the spate of insecurity in the country. To achieve this, he explained that top on the priority is to deal with secessionist threats.
This appointment ‘will stimulate me in my capacity as the new Acting Inspector General of Police to strengthen our strategies and provide the requisite leadership that will change the narratives in relation to our operational approach to the current security threats.
“Being appointed to head the largest police force in Africa, both in terms of personnel profile and operational jurisdiction, is to me more than a fulfilment of destiny. It is a call to national duty, particularly at this critical time that our nation is experiencing increasingly complex and pervasive security threats occasioned by terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, secessionist agitation and sundry highly organised crimes.
“Much as the challenge of leading the Force to address these threats in the shortest possible time frame, restore security order, and return our beloved nation to the path of national unity may appear daunting, I am inspired by the fact that from my extensive years of service, I can confidently say that the Nigeria Police is endowed with some of the finest, courageous and patriotic officers who, undoubtedly, shall support me to advance the internal security vision of Mr President.
Usman Alkali Baba, Acting Inspector General of Police
“I am also encouraged by the fact that the outgoing Inspector General of Police has laid a solid foundation and entrenched a culture of professional efficiency in the Force. These will stimulate me in my capacity as the new Acting Inspector General of Police to strengthen our strategies and provide the requisite leadership that will change the narratives in relation to our operational approach to the current security threats”.
Igboho and other separatist groups will not be spared by the new regime, according to the police boss.
“The task of restoring the primacy of the Nigeria Police in the internal security architecture of the country is the main challenge ahead of us. It is, however, a task that I am convinced we can surmount if we resolve as a people to partner and present a common front against the subversive and criminal elements who are the common enemies of our nation, ” the IGP said.
The Police boss spoke amidst call by a Fulani group, Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, GAFAN, for the arrest of Igboho. The group also called on the Federal and Oyo state Governments to ensure the return of Alhaji Salihu AbdulKadir, displaced from Igangan by Igboho in January.
The Abuja-based GADFAN equally asked the Governments to compensate the Sarkin Fulani for all the loss he and his people suffered during the attack on their settlement by the acclaimed Yoruba activist, Sunday Igboho.
The association which issued a statement in Ilorin, Kwara state, said it is “To our greatest surprise and dismay, up till this moment, Sunday Igboho is moving freely as if nothing has happened.”
Those that have been watching the Igboho saga said the Presidency had gotten tired of the former police Adamu’s reluctance to arrest the acclaimed activist and leaders of other separatists groups in the country.
Recall that operatives of the police had tried, unsuccessfully, to arrest Igboho along the Lagos /Ibadan expressway on February 26. They were rebuffed by the activist and his supporters and since then many have been wondering what would be the federal government’s next line of action.
Therefore, not a few Nigerians were shocked when Igboho failed to honour IGP’s invitation for questioning. His swift response to the invitation is that it would be wrong to arrest him when the police have failed to extend a similar invitation to Fulani leaders in the country, who he blamed for kidnapping and other violent activities in the south west.
The self-acclaimed Yoruba freedom fighter said in response to the letter sent to him via DHL and another with about 15 police officers that he cannot be intimidated. His spokesman, Olayomi Koiki said in a statement that his principal refused to accept the invitation sent to him by the IGP because he was not ready to be killed like Dele Giwa, the late Newswatch magazine editor who died through a parcel bomb in 1987.
Kioiki said: “We would like to tell the international communities and every Nigerian that this morning 1st of April, 2021, a letter was sent via DHL to Chief Sunday Igboho but the letter was not received by his security operatives.
“Later around 3 pm of the same day, a team of about 6 men without uniform arrived in a Corolla car and another 9 were in police uniform but all were identified as police officers. They wanted to see Chief Sunday Igboho with a letter said to have been addressed to him by the Inspector General of Police. Again, the letter was not received by Chief Sunday’s security team.
“Chief Sunday would like to know why a letter was sent to him and for what purpose. If the IG of police wants to invite him, we would like him to first send the same letter to all the bandits and Boko Haram members killing our mothers and farmers and those kidnapping them. Since the IG of police wants to invite him, he should make a public statement addressed to Chief Sunday Igboho.We should all remember how letters had been sent to previous Yoruba sons like the late Dele Giwa.”
Adamu may have been used as a guinea pig on the Igboho issue, but the Federal Government is yet to close the chapter, as it has put the Police and other security agencies on alert to deal with the matter soon, according to Government sources. Various sources suggested the Presidency is currently tinkering with the idea of deploying other security agencies to the activist’s home in Soka, Ibadan to effect his arrest, but has been very careful for fear that doing so could have serious security implications.
This suggestion comes amidst the Chief of Army staff, Lt General Ibrahim Attahiru’s recent resolve to deal with Igboho and other troublemakers in the country. “The army will surmount attempts by some individuals who are seen to have compromised the territorial integrity of the country by the declaration of sovereignty on behalf of ethnic nationalities in the country,” the COAS said
Whether the Army boss will carry out the threat still remains a matter of conjecture, but many have warned that the military needs to tread softly on the matter in order not to throw the country into crisis. This has become so, analysts insist, considering the volatility of the south west as a result of demand for secession by youths and prominent leaders from the region.
For instance, human rights activist and senior advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Femi Falana has warned the Federal Government against the speculated arrest of the acclaimed freedom fighter. The lawyer who had earlier condemned Igboho’s quit notice to Fulani in the South- west said the activist should not be made a scapegoat for the insecurity in the country.
Issuing the warning, Falana said: “I urge the Police not to venture to arrest Mr Sunday Igboho because in this same country, when others issued quit notices to other nationalities in the past, they were not arrested.
“There is no way the police can choose who to arrest in this nature. Almajiris have been deported, beggars have been deported, the poor and destitute have been deported and the government never raised any issue.”
Other prominent Nigerians, including Femi Fani-kayode, a former Aviation Minister have also spoken in similar vein. “Let me also send a warning to the FG that Sunday Igboho is a hero to millions of Yorubas and either killing him or detaining him unlawfully would be the biggest mistake they could make. Building bridges, dialogue and the pursuit of peace are better than intimidation, threats, violence and war. A word is enough for the wise,” the former Minister said.
Igboho first became a public item early in January after he issued a quit notice and eventually led his followers to evict Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, accusing the Fulani leader of complicity in the spate of kidnapping and other insecurity plaguing Oke Ogun, Oyo state.
Since then, the activist has gained support far and wide, even though others insist that non-state actors like Igboho should not be allowed to take over the responsibility of the state, to protect the citizens and ensure peaceful co-existence among groups in the country.
Those in this line of thought have also cited Igboho’s recent past as a thug who should have been arrested and punished for crimes committed, rather than being celebrated in the mould of a freedom fighter. They also called out Igboho for not respecting constituted authority and for making provocative comments that are capable of setting the country on fire.
Apart from these, Igboho’s attack on prominent Yoruba traditional rulers, for allegedly subverting the will of Yoruba people to secede from the country has also sparked division among leaders in the region, with many condemning him and calling on the authority to call him to order.
The activist had provoked not a few recently after he said he will lead his supporters to open international borders in the south west for imported items to come in against Government’s policy. He also vowed to open seaports in Lagos over his anger that Northerners are in control of various government agencies working in the country’s major seaports in Apapa and Tin can.
Igboho said the current food scarcity in the country is caused by the Fulani and vowed that “we will hold a meeting and open our borders so that rice, food and other things can enter easily. Enough is enough. All our borders that the Nigerian government closed, we are telling them we are no longer under them, we will go and open the borders.
“Our ports in Lagos here are all run by Fulanis, we don’t want them from now on, even at our airports, we no longer want the Fulani leaders there. Whatever the government wants to do, they should do it. We are ready. Some people say Yoruba people are not united, we are! If you want to try us, touch one of us.”
He was condemned by some for making the incendiary comment but “not by many Yoruba youths who consider him a hero who will liberate them from Fulani leaders who are holding the country by the jugular. Igboho’s ways may be rough but definitely his messages resonate with his target audience who sheepishly follow him,” said Toyosi Adebanwi, an activist in Lagos.
He explained that “Igboho’s emergence is not unconnected with the failure of leadership which gave room for non-state actors to take over its respo nsibilities because nature abhors a vacuum. Imagine the problem people in Oke Ogun were facing before Igboho came to their rescue. The Igangan people will be grateful to him forever for his effort to rid their lands of Fulani killers as nothing anybody says about him would matter,” he said.
But many are, also, worried over his unconventional response to issues and his constant attack on those he perceives as the enemies of Yoruba. Igboho had in one of his comments attacked the Ooni of Ife for compromising the campaign against Fulani herders after the traditional ruler visited President Buhari in Abuja to consult with him on the vexed issue. Ooni and others were warned by Igboho to forget the Nigerian project, adding that the 2023 general election will be bloody and that politicians from the region who participate in the election will be shot from behind. The comment riled prominent Yoruba leaders who swiftly called on him to apologise to the traditional ruler.
“The attack on the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi received flaks from prominent leaders from the region who prevailed on him to apologise to the first class traditional ruler. Even though he did, the understanding among traditional rulers in Yorubaland is that Igboho is trying to set them against the people and topple their timeworn position as residuals of power and authority,” Adebanwi said.
His sour relationship with the Governor of the state, Governor Seyi Makinde, on how to handle the killer herdsmen problem is also causing tension as State officials have accused the activist of working for the opposition. While the Governor prefers a peaceful resolution of the farmers/ herdsmen crisis, because as some of his aides said, doing contrary can set off a deadly reprisal from the North, not so with Igboho who prefers a hard-line posture that that Fulani be evicted from Yorubaland for peace can reign.
But close watchers of the dispute insist that what exists between the duo is a disagreement on how to handle the Fulani menace, that it will be impossible for Igboho to be working against Governor Makinde who got into office through the support of former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, who is regarded by Igboho as his Godfather.
Recall that the activist in one of his interviews narrated how Ladoja directed him to work for Tinubu and Alliance for Democracy, AD during one of the keenly contested governorship election in Ondo state in 2006. He had earlier fought on Ladoja’s side during the power contest between the former governor and late Lamidi Adedibu, the generalissimo of Ibadan politics between 2006 and 2007.
Before he met Ladoja, the activist had worked for former Governor Lam Adesina in the AD, but later switched sides to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
According to him “I wanted to join Politics in 1999, while in Modakeke, Osun State, but my mentor then, an aged man, identified as ‘Oluwasalu’ with not so much zeal for power, discouraged me.
“Though I got to Ìbàdàn in year 2000, only a few knew me. But in 2002, there was a political feud between Lam Adesina, Ladoja, and Adedibu. Ladoja was a supporter of Adedibu, both of whom intentions were to hijack power from Lam Adesina in 2003.”
His path with Adesina crossed during a fuel scarcity when the former governor noticed his bravery for fighting on the side of the masses.
Igboho said “Lam would later give me his complimentary card, asked me to be part of his political campaign team because Adedibu usually disturbed them. That was how I became part of Lam Adesina’s team, just because I was defending a powerless Nigerian who was assaulted by the politician’s security aides. That gave me an opportunity to meet who is who in the Nigerian politics back then.”
Until he ventured into politics, Igboho was known to be among those who fought on Modakeke side during the popular Ife/ Modakeke war in the late 90s. Narrating how he became prominent, in an interview recently with the Nigerian Tribune, he said his father passed the metaphysical powers to him.
After the war ended, the activist was said to have been involved in smuggling of goods such as tokunbo (used) cars and food stuffs in the Oke Ogun area, to eke out a living. He later delved into land sales in Ibadan where some have accused him of forcefully taking over their lands. He has denied the allegation that he’s a land grabber.
Igboho whose popularity has grown in recent times have become a difficult bone for the authority to swallow, according to critics, who said Buhari’s administration has not shown enough courage to deal with the emergence of ethnic militant leaders in the country. Many Nigerians are watching whether the new IGP will arrest Igboho to prove critics wrong that the government has totally lost power to secessionists.
Former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has called for the strengthening of the nation’s electoral laws to allow the ballot count. He said it should be reviewed in such a way that only the ballot paper, and not the courts, is allowed to determine the winners of elections.
The former President stressed that the standard practice is that the electoral management bodies exercise the sole responsibility of returning candidates and declaring winners while the judiciary complements by either upholding declared results or nullifying flawed elections and ordering a rerun.
A release by his Special Adviser on Media, Ikechukwu Eze, said Jonathan stated this on Monday in an interaction with newsmen during a visit to TOSTV Network studios in Abuja.
He said: “I had already made a public statement on that to the effect that the ballot paper, and not the judiciary should determine who wins elections, or select political leaders. The ballot paper should be the only basis for selecting political leaders.”
Dr. Jonathan further noted that countries that conduct free and fair elections experience less election-related litigations while numerous Court cases following elections are the hallmark of fragile democracies.
He said: “I have said this before, and I will always repeat it. I am not saying the Judiciary is not doing well. But my point is that our laws should suppress the issue of the Judiciary returning candidates. If a candidate is declared winner after a flawed electoral process, what the Courts can do is to annul the election and order a fresh one, where a winner will, finally, emerge through the ballot. The ballot paper should decide who holds any elective office from the Councillorship to the Presidency . That is democracy.”
The former President who, also, admitted that some funds might be needed in elections, especially in the area of logistics during campaigns, however, frowned at the negative way money is deployed in inducing electorates, officials and security operatives.
Dr. Jonathan pointed out the weakness of governance at lo6cal Government level which is the third tier of Government, particularly, in the exercise of its autonomy and its capacity to manage development issues.
He, therefore, highlighted the need to review the Local Government system to enable the tier of Government perform better in delivering democracy dividends to the people.
Candidates intending to register for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, can now obtain their e-PINS from enabled Interswitch platforms.
The Platforms such as Quickteller Mobile, Mobile App/Web, Quickteller Paypoint (Agents), via payment with Interswitch WebPAY on JAMB’s website and through payment using Interswitch Paydirect at any bank branch nationwide from Monday, April 12, 2021.
Interswitch Group, Africa’s leading technology-driven company focused on the digitization of payments in Africa has announced the opening of its platform for the 2021 UTME, however, simplifying the registration process.
Before now, the process has been cumbersome, which atimes led to difficulties for Candidates during registration.
The 2021 registration will last for six weeks, ending on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Candidates are advised to optimize this registration period.
For a seamless registration process, prospective candidates, including those registering from foreign countries should follow these easy steps:
Candidates should obtain the National Identification Number (NIN), this is mandatory
SMS ‘NIN’, space, & your 11-digit NIN number to 55019 e.g [NIN 00123456789]. Note that there should be a space between the word ‘NIN’ and your 11-digit NIN.
You’ll receive an SMS with your 10-digit profile code and your registered NIN name.
Visit JAMB website, click purchase of 2021 application document, and enter your 10-digit
Select ‘Pay Online’ to pay on the website via Interswitch or pay via the Quickteller website/app or at the nearest Quickteller Paypoint outlet.
Your ePIN will be delivered to your registered telephone number.
The cost of registration is N3,500 as directed by the Federal Government since 2018. However, each candidate will also pay an additional N500 for reading text to be provided by CBT Centres at the point of registration. Consequently, every prospective candidate will pay a total of N4,000.
Tomi Ogunlesi, Group Head, Corporate Marketing, Interswitch, said that as the leading enabler of electronic transaction solutions in Nigeria, the organization has provided a variety of payment platforms that are reliable, user-friendly and secure, to ensure JAMB’s UTME registration process is seamless for prospective candidates.
“Since our accreditation by JAMB in 2017, Interswitch has successfully enabled a seamless registration process for UTME candidates. Our services are available online, across more than 18,000 ATMs, at all bank branches nationwide and through over 32,000 Quickteller Paypoint Agents across Nigeria” Ogunlesi added.
Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle is in the news. He issued a very long statement on Thursday attacking the South in defence of his North. He also attacked anti-Buhari London protesters for their hatred for the President and the North.
This Governor belongs to the PDP, a political party that claims to be in opposition to the ruling party. But he sees nothing wrong washing Buhari’s APC feet and scenting him in groveling shame.
I do not know who told him that President Muhammadu Buhari needed the ‘ineffectual buffoonery’ of the PDP to defend himself from haters. My people say the warrior’s kumo (club) is enough to kill, it does not need further fortifications from charms and amulets of busybodies.
What is the business of an opposition Governor in buying drugs for a sick President? The PDP and some of its jobless leaders do not know how to mind their business. They don’t. The party has many of such ‘leaders’ in the South’west-who dingily campaign for Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his undeclared 2023 Presidential ambition.
They lick the arse of APC with their party clapping and hailing them: “You are doing well.” What kind of man is in PDP and at the same time a shit-packer for Buhari and the other APC power-bags?
All over the world, no man of value hyphenates contradictory values; no good man grafts good on bad and bad on good. PDP has such ghastly people who misbehave without wearing masks. The Yoruba use bewildering eyes to look at anyone who expands his Oshokolo to start bearing Oshakala-Oshokolo. There are other savage names for such characters; we call them alagabagebe. You do not need a translator to grasp the meaning of that zigzag word; all you need is listen to its macabre sound and you get how disgusting whoever is so described is.
Matawalle is my focus here, the loathsome Oshaka-Oshoko of the South West are just an abhorrent detour, so I leave them.
Matawalle informed us in his statement that the protest against Buhari in London was an attack on the North. He said “as a Northerner,” he condemned “in strongest terms” the protests which “demonstrated the growing hatred against anything North.” Now, is it a Northern policy that a president luxuriates abroad while hospitals are closed at home? Who told Matawalle that the London assembly of protesters was one hundred percent southern? When did we start ethnicising protests against bad governmental acts and behaviours?
Bello Matawalle, Zamfara State governor.
The January 2012 fuel price protests that burst the balls of President Goodluck Jonathan was actively financed by elements who populate the APC today, North and South. Buhari was involved; Nasir el-Rufai was involved; the Zamfara kingmakers who enthroned Matawalle were involved.
Now, using the illogic of this Governor from Zamfara, would we be right to say that the 2012 protest was a manifestation of those people’s hatred for Jonathan’s Ijaw and ‘anything’ South-south?
What our president says with his grisly silence is what desperate Matawalle has said in gruesome words. This is a season of sickening politics. Because of the pushback against retail and wholesale smuggling of banditry into the south, Matawalle also threatened that the North had the capacity to ‘reciprocate.’ His dogoturenchi (gigantic English) clung like salamander on what he called South’s attacks and hostilities to Northerners in the South.
His words: “If Northerners and their means of livelihood will not be protected, accommodated and be dignified anywhere they choose to stay in any part of the South, Southerners should NOT expect such reciprocal protection from the North as the North has more than what it takes to respond to any kind of aggression and hatred.”
We regularly hear such threats from bandits and other criminals from the North since 2015. But a Governor is not an ordinary official of state, he is a miniature President. So, when Matawalle spoke the language of bandits, it could only mean that Nigeria has truly metastasized from a country of hope to a monstrous forest of the heartless.
Zamfara, where Matawalle is Governor, is the banditry capital of Nigeria. You would think that this Governor already had enough in his plate and would mind his business. But no. He is a politician, there is no commitment to anything edifying. There is no shame; what there is, is the end which must always justify the vile means.
Just eleven days ago, Matawalle cried out that six Northern States, including his own, had 30,000 bandits in 100 camps. Specifically, he said in his state, there were 4,825 bandits who had 232 Commanders with 24 routes and networks across 14 Local Government Areas of the State. He disclosed further that in Zamfara State between 2011, when the banditry crisis began, and 2019, 2,619 people were killed; 1,190 kidnapped and the sum of N900 million paid as ransom while 14,378 animals were rustled. He added: “One hundred thousand people were displaced from their ancestral homes. This is in addition to the hundreds of houses that were burned to ashes with foodstuffs and other valuables worth billions of naira destroyed by the bandits.”
He did not give details of the bad things that have been the lot of his State since he happened to Zamfara in 2019. But we cannot forget that the situation has terribly deteriorated to the point that a slumbering Buhari had to recently wake up to pronounce that state a no-fly zone.
But did you notice that all that concerned Matawalle was Southern Nigeria? This Governor had no warning for his brothers, the bandits who have wrecked his Region, his State and his people. Instead, what he has for them are bread and butter and bullion vans as thank-you packages. He is the originator of the pro-bandit amnesty policy popularized by Sheik Ahmad Gumi.
So what does Matawalle want? The involution in his politics is deliberate. He wants a second term. Full stop. Because he wants a second bite at the cherry, he has, therefore, decided to befriend the two unfailing factors for political success in the shit-hole of the North. He knew he needed the protection of Buhari and the support of the uncritical, fanatical street. These two he would get if he assumed the role of their champion and becomes the North’s own Sunday Igboho. That is what he has done by launching a blitzkrieg at the South.
But with that statement of poorly assembled phrases, did he not cut the pitiable picture of a repulsive desperado? Let us see how far he can go.
Well, it turned out that this Governor was just the appetizer; the main course came the following day. Leaders of the Hausa-Fulani North don’t take prisoners when they go to war. So, on Friday came from them a Fatwah on the South. They would restructure Nigeria (in their own image) and won’t mind keeping the Presidency of the country till death do them part.
The ultra conservative, pro-Buhari Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the nimble pro-Atiku Northern Elders Forum (NEF) led 15 other groups to make it very clear in a communique they issued in Kaduna that Friday that, in this patriarchy nicknamed Nigeria, they are the husband and their word is law. Did you read them?
They said: “The North believes that restructuring the country is now a vital necessity for survival as one entity…(But) the North will not be stampeded or blackmailed into taking major decisions around rotating the presidency.” Very short, clear, unambiguous and audacious.
That is how masters talk to slaves. They are ready to restructure Nigeria but that restructuring must not include allowing other parts, especially minority groups, to produce the President.
They also, significantly, borrowed warning shots for the South from Matawalle. They said: “The north warns against the continuation of demonization, attacks and killings of Northerners in the Southern parts of the country.” They asked the Government to “take firmer steps to protect members of Northern communities who live in the South…”
But what about the atrocities of Northern bandits in the South?
The 12-paragraph, graceless, provocative communique had not one word of sympathy or pity for victims of Northern violence in the South. It was all arrogance served in haughty, masterful plates.
A helpless commentator, who read them, lamented online that the Hausa-Fulani North ‘always ensure that whatever they say happen.’ They decide and choose how Nigeria is run and dare the conquered South to contradict them.
Well, my people say if you are sure of the potency of your Ogun or your oogun (charm), you swear with it. That is the meaning of that Kaduna Declaration. But it is ‘morning yet on creation day;’ we wait to see how far they will go.
Prof. Ishaq Akintola, the Director of Islamic Group, Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, is known to be a controversial Scholar, and he hasn’t hidden his sentiments when it comes to his religion.
This time, Prof. Akintola accuses the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, of nursing bad intentions against Muslims, following the statements of the Christian Group on the use and imposition of Hijab on female students in Kwara State by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and the recent comments on usage of Hijab by Female Military Personnels.
Reacting to CAN’s latest statement in which it said Muslim female soldiers were free to wear hijab on military uniform if that would deflect bullets, the Muslim Rights advocacy Group said it is degrading and insulting for CAN to sound sarcastic in the statement.
MURIC’s allegation against CAN is coming through a statement issued on Monday, 12th April, 2021 by its Director, Professor Akintola.
“CAN has come again. It never wishes its neighbour well. It is never Christ-like. Statements from CAN are, more often than not, ungodly and diabolical. Imagine CAN supporting the use of hijab by female Muslim soldiers ‘if it would deflect bullets’.
”That shows bad intention. Why the reference to bullets except for death wish for female Muslim soldiers? The only Muslim CAN loves is the dead Muslim. The only Muslim CAN will accommodate is the ‘liberal’, ignorant, half-baked and lilly-livered Muslim who has no mind of his own.
“CAN is beating about the bush. The question is, does CAN support the use of hijab by female Muslim soldiers or not? Nobody is talking about bullets here. Every soldier knows the implications of joining the army. Bullets are working tools for soldiers. They are very familiar with it. So who is CAN trying to scare?
“This is a poor outing for CAN. We expect a robust and intellectual interface in which CAN will expatiate reasons for objecting to the use of hijab by female military soldiers. But what do we get instead? CAN is asking if hijab will deflect bullets for those who wear it? That is pedestrian, infantile and jejune. This shows CAN could not come up with any good excuse against the use of hijab by female Muslim soldiers who wish to do so once it is approved,” MURIC said.
The body added: “The old song of ‘no Muslim can wear hijab in our school’ does not apply here. The Nigerian Army belongs to all Nigerians, Christians and Muslims. It is the people’s army. Let it reflect the variety of the people’s culture. Army uniform should not be synonymous with Christian uniform. Nigeria will not run a Christian army or a Muslim army.
“We must ask CAN in turn: does the army uniform itself deflect bullets? If it doesn’t, why do soldiers still wear it? If our soldiers still wear their uniform despite the fact that the latter has no capacity to protect them from bullets, there is no reason under the sun to stop female Muslim soldiers from using hijab simply because the latter cannot protect them from bullets. We assure CAN that female Muslim soldiers who so desire will embrace the hijab without fear of flying bullets even if CAN is the one pulling the trigger.
“CAN’s reference to only Afghanistan as a country where hijab is used by female soldiers is mischievous. CAN’s intention is to mislead Nigerians into believing that Afghanistan is the only country in the world where female Muslim soldiers use hijab. But this is far from being true. CAN is being economical with the truth. The examples below will expose CAN’s deception.”
The Islamic Group stressed that female Muslim soldiers and police were now found in Britain, Ireland, Scotland, US, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago, New Zealand, Australia and so on, putting on Hijabs.
It added that in November 2018, a High Court judge in Trinidad and Tobago ruled that Muslim women police officers are to be allowed to wear their hijabs while on duty.
“So what is Nigeria waiting for if countries that are more than 80% Christians allow Muslim women soldiers and police to use hijab? Even the population of Muslims in South Africa is just 1.9% and hijab has already been approved there also.
“The United States Army approved hijab in 2017 following a memorandum issued by the Secretary of the US Army in Washington on 3rd January 2017 under the subject-matter Army Directive 2017-03 (Policy for Brigade-Level Approval of Certain Requests for Religious Accomodation),” it added.
Elderstateman, Tanko Yakassai, has berated the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Yakassai who had on several occasions lashed the All Progressives Congress, APC, Government, said President Buhari lacked the capacity to solve different problems facing the country.
In an interview, he said President Buhari lacks the capacity to better the lives of Nigerians and deliver his promises made during the 2019 general elections.
He noted that electing Buhari as president of the country was the greatest mistake made by Nigerians in recent times, adding that opposition to this administration would not translate to endorsement for those calling for the balkanization of the country.
Yakasai opined that there would be more problems for the various component parts if they break away.
He said: “I have never supported, and will never support Buhari. I know Buhari has no competence to rule the country. I have never changed my mind about his lack of competence to lead the country.
“I didn’t support Buhari because I knew he could not solve our problems as a country. The capacity is not just there. I would join efforts to look for somebody who can solve our problems.
“Nobody can solve Nigeria’s problems until there is a programme for solving the problems. Many now want to become president because they want to have power and to make money.
“Such people can’t solve our problems or the problems of any country. Only people who put their minds to the problems can solve such problems. If we want to develop agriculture, we must have a programme that solves the problems in that area.
“There must be a programme to solve the problems of power, infrastructure and a programme that will create jobs for the youths. If there are programmes for the various sectors, the future of the country would change for the better.
“But these people only want power to make money. It is not a question of South or North because both southerners and northerners have ruled the country. It is the problem of lack of programme and capacity that is troubling the country.”
Yakassai is the father of Salihu Yakassai, former Media Adviser to Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, who the Governor sacked for criticising Buhari. He has, allegedly, gone into self-exile.
“Nigeria has been trying to defeat and humiliate and defeat the South-east for decades, in vain. A fraction of the war-making budget could have transformed the Region into an industrial power house for the Country and for Africa.”
Agu, the lion, is a predator in the republic of Anumanu (animal kingdom). Yet, this is the image chosen by the Governors of the South East Region of Nigeria to represent their demand for ‘increased militarized policing’.
The militarization of policing has never succeeded in yielding improved security anywhere in the world because such policies tend to brutalize the conscience of the citizens, and result in increased violence in the community and internationally.
The communique issued by the Governors carefully avoided the demand for community policing, but called on Ohaneze and Church leaders, rather than Criminologists, to meet with security agents to discuss the causes of increased violence in the region. They called for herdsmen and farmers to coexist peacefully while claiming to ban open grazing. But this is not possible unless they implement ranching as is done in many parts of the world.
The South East region remains the most peaceful part of Nigeria and the Governors should examine the hypothesis that agents provocateur may be responsible for the spectacular escalation of violence in the region to provoke the invasion of the region and the disruption of economic activities.
Instead of calling for a list of security infrastructures and budgets from the security agents for immediate funding by the Governors, they should prioritize the awarding of huge grants for business start ups and scholarships for the unemployed graduates to shift policies from a war-making approach to a peacemaking approach that would promote community security through increased prosperity that would be secured through community policing.
Nigeria has been trying to defeat and humiliate the people of the South East for decades, in vain, but a fraction of the war-making budget could have transformed the region into an industrial powerhouse for the country and for Africa.
The Governors from the region should be brave and demand for reparations to be paid to the survivors of the Igbo genocide in which 3.1 million people were killed, especially, because the survivors are not terrorists seeking for revenge. Rather they are exemplary citizens excelling in business, education, arts, and sports, and helping to develop other parts of the country where they migrate to set up businesses partly because of the lack of industries in the South East.
All the offense they cause is the non-violent demand for a referendum to decide the future of the region, the same way Scotland has been demanding for referenda without the Scottish National Party being banned as a terrorist organization.
Reparative justice may persuade more people from the region to vote for African unity in a referendum that includes the option of the United Republic of African States that Azikiwe and Nkrumah canvased. No more war.
As Noam Chomsky would say about the definition of terrorism in the laws of different nations, including especially the US, the 2011 Anti-Terrorism Act of Nigeria defines terrorism in such a way that the Government itself qualifies as a terrorist organization using intimidation to breed fear among the people for political reasons. Decolonize politics by erasing the colonial boundaries to reunite Africa and pool resources to solve the problems posed by neocolonialism in all parts of Africa.
The South-east Governments have finally woken up. The Governors of the five states at a meeting in Owerri on Sunday, during which they evaluated the security situation in the country resolved to float a new security outfit code named Ebube Agu to deal with cases of insecurity the zone.
The Governors – Dave Umeahi (Ebonyi), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Willie Obiano (Anambra) and host Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State also resolved to join hands with the Federal Government to fight terrorism and banditry whereever they may exist in the region.
According to a statement issued by Oguike Nwachuku, the Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the host Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, the Governors strongly condemned the recent cases of burning of Police stations, attack on Correctional facility and unlawful release of inmates, killing of security personnel, natives, farmers/ herders and resolved to stand resolutely with the Federal Government to stop the development.
Joined by Chiefs of all arm-bearing security agencies in the zone with a high – powered delegation from the office of the Acting Inspector General comprising a deputy Inspector General of Police and an Assistant Inspector General of Police, the Governors said they resolved to bring their resources and arsenal together to fight terrorism and flush out criminals in the zone.
After their exhaustive deliberation in a close- door meeting, Governor Umahi, flanked by his brother-Governors and the security chiefs read a 15 – point communique of their resolution to the media.
Part of the resolution, it was revealed, is that the security agencies agreed to share intelligence and information concerning the zone and in a manner that will help check crimes.
According to the Governors, a committee made up of security personnel, government officials and relevant stakeholders will be set up to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the South East joint security platform called Ebube Agu with headquarters in Enugu.
Also, the Governors said: “The meeting approved that the acting IGP and other security chiefs do invite the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and CAN to find out the reason for increasing insecurity of the South East,” and that the “meeting agreed that military policing in the South East should be adequately funded and become effective.”
The Governors said to fast track crime-busting in the south east, “the heads of security agencies have been mandated to draw up a comprehensive list of their logistics and material needs for sustainable success in the fight against criminality, for the immediate provision by the leadership of the South East.”
Also agreed, according to the Governors, is a “need to galvanise all the relevant stakeholders in the South East, the political class, the business community, the bureaucrats and the intelligentsia to provide all necessary support to security operatives in the five South East states to ensure total success in the fight against criminality in the zone.”
The communique read in full:
After exhaustive discussions on the current security challenges in the South East and with valuable contributions from participants at the first South East security summit in Owerri on this day Sunday April 11th 2021, it was resolved as follows:
1.To strongly and unequivocally condemn terrorism and banditry in any part of Nigeria, particularly in the South East. The meeting strongly condemns the burning of Police stations, violent attacks on custodial centres with the unlawful release of inmates, and the killings including security personnel, natives/ farmers and headsmen.
2.That the five South East states are on the same page with the federal government on the issue of security challenges in the country. To this end, the meeting makes it absolutely clear that the South east will stand resolutely with the federal government to fight terrorists and bandits to a finish
3.That the political leadership in the South East has resolved to bring together all the arsenals at their command, as one united zone, to fight and flush out criminals and terrorist from the zone.
4.That the summit resolved that to achieve this, there is a need to galvanise all the relevant stakeholders in the south east, the political class, the business community, the bureaucrats and the intelligentsia to provide all necessary support to security operatives in the five south east states to ensure total success in the fight against criminality in the zone.
5.That the heads of all the security agencies in the south east have resolved to exchange intelligence in a seamless, effective new order that will help to checkmate crime in the zone.
6.That to fast track crime-busting in the south east, the heads of security agencies have been mandated to draw up a comprehensive list of their logistics and material needs for sustainable success in the fight against criminality, for the immediate provision by the leadership of the South East.
7. That a committee made up of security personnel, government officials and relevant stakeholders be set up to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the south east joint security platform.
8.To applaud the initiative of the South east security summit and to make it a statutory summit that will convene every quarter while its hosting shall rotate among the five south east states.
9.The meeting resolved to maintain a joint security vigilante for the South East otherwise known as Ebube Agu.
10.The meeting appreciated the formation of South East joint security outfit code named Ebubeagu. Headquarters in Enugu to coordinate our vigilante in the South East.
11.South East Governors requested the Acting IGP to stop the influx of IGP monitory units but to allow cps and state and Zonal commands to handle their cases.
12. Meeting approve that the acting IGP and other security chiefs do invite the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and CAN to find out the reason for increasing insecurity of the South East .
13. Meeting agreed that military policing in the South East should be adequately funded and become effective.
14. Meeting agreed that open grazing has been banned and security agency should implement the ban.
15. The meeting encouraged a peaceful coexistence of farmers and herders to allow Governors to succeed in the fight against criminality.
