[center]REJOINDER TO THE PUBLICATION TITTLED:[/center]
[center]VIGILATE GROUP OF NIGERIA[/center]
[center]"DISCLAIMER"[/center][/b]
[center]Published In DAILY Trust News papers of Tuesday June2, 2015.[/center]

(Check attacheched document)

The attention of the Board of Trustees of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) has been drawn to a purported disclaimer said to emanate from the "National Headquarters of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria. In the said advertorial allegedly signed by Alhaji Sabo Shehu Maiduguri, Alh. Raji Sarkin Yorubawa and Alh. Ali Sokoto , the General public were warned to desist from dealing with. and recognizing Alh USMAN MOHAMMED and MAJOR S.O.BISIRIYU"-#TD) as National Chairman and Secretary respectively of the Group. The Board of Trustees of the VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA and the National Legal Adviser of the Group hereby alert the General public to completely ignore the said publication as it is deliberately mischievous, in bad faith and does not emanate from the Board of Trustees of the VGN.

For the avoidance of doubt and for the information of the General Public, the authentic Board of Trustees of the VGN is the one headed by ALHAJI AHMED DALHATU by virtue of the consent judgment of the High Court of Kaduna State in SUIT NO KDH/KAD/353/2006 wherein some of the signatories to the advertorial were parties. Therefore the only authentic authority to speak on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria is ALHAJI AHMED, DALHATU.

Issue of the National Commander General of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria. This is to allow the High Court of Justice Kaduna to conclude the hearing and determination of a suit currently before it on who is the authentic Commander General of the Association".

The High Court is yet to conclude the hearing of that case and determine the authentic Commander General of the Group. It is therefore the height of mischief for the same Alh Ali Sokoto to take a half page advert in the newspaper to claim that he is the authentic Commander General of the Association. The Government security agencies and the General public are hereby notified that any dismissal, suspension, appointment or other action purportedly taken by Alhaji Ali Sokoto on behalf of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria is null and void.

The Board of Trustees of the VGN is only interested in the Peace Security and harmony of its members in particular and of the Nigerian People in general. The Board of Trustees Stands ready to support and partner with the Governments at Federal, State and Local Government levels as well as security agencies to provide Nigerians with the much needed peace and security.
WARNING/APPEAL

The Board of Trustees will not tolerate any action by any member of the VGN that will threaten the peace and security of the nation and hereby warn all members of the VGN against acts and conduct capable of bringing disharmony and breach of peace and security.
The Board of Trustees will not hesitate to invoke appropriate sanctions against the authors of the said publication if they continue in their attempts to deceive and mislead the public. They are warned:

The ignoble and shameful attempt by the signatories to that advertorial to turn facts on their head is hereby deprecated. The affected individuals are hereby warned in their own interest to desist from such deceitful and unauthorized publications.

The Board of Trustees also wishes to alert the General public that the issue of the authentic National Chairman or Commander General of the Group is before the High Court of Justice of Kaduna State in suit No KDH/ KAD/ 286/2009 which is still pending. The High Court is yet to pronounce on the matter. The claims before the High Court in the above suit is that the General meeting of the VGN held on the 31st January 2009 duly removed Alhaji Ali Sokoto as National Chairman and Commander General of the Group but that he has continued to head a small faction of the Group. It is therefore contemptuous of the court proceedings for one party to the suit to go to the press and claim to be the authentic chairman as against the other party. As at now the Board of Trustees and the National Legal Adviser whose position are not in dispute are the only organs that can make pronouncement on the affairs of the VIGILANTE GROUP OF NIGERIA.

The Board of Trustees VGN recall that in 2013 Alhaji Ali Sokoto wrote a similar disclaimer to Kano State Governor, an action which led to his arrest and detention in Kano where he signed a memorandum of understanding stating among other things; "That the complanee agreed to a file a counter that will supersede the earlier one sent to the above mentioned offices. In view of the above development therefore both parties agreed to sign memorandum of understanding that this issue have been resolved and would never happen again not only in Kano but the entire State in the Federation of Nigeria7'.

Based on the above memorandum, Alhaji Aii Sokoto wrote a withdrawal letter dated 24/6/2013 stating among other things "Your Excellency sir, I wrote to formally withdraw my letter of 18th may 2013 titled INFORMATION LETTER in which I drew your Excellency's attention….