Buhari faults clampdown on Boko Haram members June 2, 2013
Former Head of State and Presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Major General Muhammadu Buhari has faulted the federal government’s clampdown on Boko Haram Islamic insurgents.
He accused the government of killing and destroying their houses while the Niger Delta militants were given special treatment by the government. Buhari who spoke on Sunday on a Liberty Radio programme, Guest of the Week monitored in Kaduna also admitted that the road to the registration of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was rough, pointing out that the promoters of the party were well prepared for any hitch that may arise. Buhari who first spoke in Hausa before the English version accused politicians from the Niger Delta region of starting the current in security in the country by recruiting and arming youths of the region in their desperate attempt to retain power as governors.
The former Nigerian leader said that unlike the special treatment given to the Niger Delta militants by the federal government, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished by government. While accusing President Jonathan of failing from the beginning to address the security situation in the country, Buhari said he has never been in support of the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa state. According to Buhari “what is responsible for the security situation in the country is caused by the activities of Niger Delta militants. Every Nigerian that is familiar with what is happening knows this. The Niger Delta militants started it all.
“What happened is that the governors of the Niger Delta region at that time wanted to win their elections. So they recruited the youths and gave them guns and bullets and used them against their opponents to win elections by force. “After the elections were over, they asked the boys to return the guns; the boys refused to return the guns. Because of that, the allowance that was being given to the youths by the governors during that time was stopped.
“The youths resorted to kidnapping oil workers and were collecting dollars as ransom. Now a boy of 18 to 20 years was getting about 500 dollars in a week, why will he go to school and spend 20 years to study and then come back and get employed by government to be paid N100,000 a month, that is if he is lucky to get employment.
“So kidnapping becomes very rampant in the South -South and the South -East. They kidnapped people and were collecting money. “How did Boko Haram start? We know that their leader, Mohammed Yusuf started his militant and the police couldn’t control them and the army was invited. He was arrested by soldiers and handed over to the police. “The appropriate thing to do, according to the law, was for the police to carry out investigations and charge him to court for prosecution, but they killed him, his in-law was killed, they went and demolished their houses.
“Because of that, his supporters resorted to what they are doing today. You see in the case of the Niger Delta militants, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua sent an aeroplane to bring them, he sat down with them and discussed with them, they were cajoled, and they were given money and granted amnesty. “They were trained in some skills and were given employment, but the ones in the north were being killed and their houses were being demolished. They are different issues, what brought this? It is injustice”.
Alleged Pension fraud: We didn’t conduct in-depth probe into Maina’s case – EFCC witness January 20, 2020
An EFCC Operative, Mohammed Goji, on Monday, told the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the commission did not conduct a thorough investigation into the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) headed by Abdulrasheed Maina to unravel members of the team drawn from other ministries, departments or agencies (MDAs) of government.
Mr Goji, a member of the EFCC Pension Fraud Team that investigated alleged fraud by Mr Maina, made the revelation during the continuation of cross examination before Justice Okon Abang as the 2nd prosecution witness (PW2) in the ongoing trial.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Goji on December 16, 2019, told the court how Faisal Maina, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, withdrew N58 million from a commercial bank in the country.
Mr Goji, a Principal Detective Superintendent with the anti-graft agency, at the resumed trial of Faisal on Monday, said he could not tell precisely other members of the PRTT constituted by the federal government then.
He stated this while responding to questions by Faisal’s lawyer, Adeola Adedipe.
When asked if Mr Goji was a member of the PRTT led by Mr Maina or any personnel from the anti-graft agency was a member, he said: “No, I was not a member of the Pension Reformed Task Team, and I can’t say if my agency was represented as part of the team.”
The official explained that while PRTT was designated at the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, “the EFCC’s Pension Fraud Team is designated at the EFCC office and is constituted only by EFCC operatives.”
When asked on those who constituted the PRTT, Mr Goji said: “I can’t say authoritatively who exactly constitutes the Pension Reform Task Team.
“I know some personnel of different agencies were constituted as part of PRTT but I have not seen an official document nominating such agencies’ personnel as part of the team.
“So, precisely, I cannot tell the agencies that participated in the PRTT,” he said.
Mr Adedipe, in his cross examination, asked: “In other words, your investigation was not deeply rooted enough to reveal those agencies?”
Admitting, Mr Goji said: “We did not conduct an in-depth investigation to find out precisely the members of the agencies represented in the defunct pension reformed task team.”
Kidnapping in Nigeria exaggerated — Osinbajo June 25, 2019
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has downplayed the cases of kidnapping in Nigeria, saying they were sometimes exaggerated for political effect.
Mr Osinbajo was addressing Nigerians based in New York on Monday when he was confronted with questions about kidnapping, which is a major part of Nigeria’s worsening insecurity.
“With respect to general kidnapping which we have seen in parts of the country, again, this is not entirely new. In fact, some of the kidnapping stories you read or listen to are simply not true anywhere, some are fuelled by politics,” Mr Osinbajo was reported as saying by the state-run News Agency of Nigeria.
“There are cases of kidnapping, no question at all about that, but some of the more dramatic stories that you hear are simply not true.
“Every report of kidnapping we receive, we try to verify, and at the end of the day you find out that people just tell all sorts of stories,” the vice-president said.
Aderr: They are capitalizing on the hungry and the illiterates.
Those of us who understand what the issues are should educate and sensitise the others massively and quickly now in a consistent manner until most of us know whatsup.
During a visit to the town, our correspondent discovered that there is hardly any federal ministry that is not executing a project in the town. Power, Housing, Works, Transport, Health, Education and other ministries have projects that are classified as Special Projects Unit (SPU) as displayed in various locations in the town. Aside the federal projects massively being carried out across the town and neighbouring villages, friends and associates of the president have undertaken some projects that are adding value to the people’s lives.
There is an ongoing massive construction of township roads and drainages totaling about 40km across the city. Four contractors are executing the projects. A ring road of 80-90km is about to commence. During the first tenure of the Buhari administration, 21km of drainages and waterways were constructed.
The building of schools for people with special needs has begun at the cost of N500m. The Federal Polytechnic, Daura is expected to take off in January 2020 at its temporary site. 100 hectares of land has been provided for the permanent site. The proposed Federal University of Transportation has been alloted 6,000 hectares and the project is to commence any moment from now. Already completed and being put to use is the multi-million naira Nigerian Air Force referral hospital equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. The Air Force has set up a response air wing just as the Nigerian Army has established a base in the town. Others are the upgrade and expansion of the town’s mini stadium at the cost of N259m and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) N84m centre that just graduated its first set of 100 students trained in various trades and skills.
There is also a skills acquisition centre that has been completed but is yet to be commissioned under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) programme along Zango road. The first lady, Aisha Buhari, is also supporting her husband’s town to develop. She has built a 50-bed maternity center at the town’s general hospital, besides setting up empowerment programs for women and the less privileged. A helipad was constructed in the town, just as the 27-year-old once abandoned Sabke Dam has been completed and is presently supplying 1m litres of water to Daura and neighbouring communities. Many SDG 2018 school projects have been completed and already put to use. A 73km 132 KVA line was constructed from Katsina to Daura, in addition to the commissioning of two 30 and 40 MVA transformers to boost power supply in the town. Projects in the pipeline include the railway line and the dualisation of the 72km Daura-Katsina road.
The state government is also supporting the town’s infrastructure transformation. To boost tourism and support the massive influx of guests to the town, the state government-owned Daura Motel was upgraded and expanded at the cost of about N450m. Roads already constructed include the 92km Fago-Katsayal-Kwarasawa-Jirdere-Koza to Kawanar Sabke road, and the Sandamu-Baure road. Private interventions in the town include the e-library built by Chief Emeka Offor, while the Jack-Rich Tein Foundation in a joint venture with the NNPC and Belema Oil constructed a 400,000 litres capacity solar-powered water system in the town. Aliko Dangote is also spending N100m on the town’s mosque.
Cutezt: Victims of last week's fulani herds men attack on Kwatas community, Bokos local government area of Plateau State were buried amidst tears today.
Umartins1: Ajimobi’s Daughter Labels Protesting LAUTECH Students “Generation Of Mannerless Students” On Instagram
Ajibola, the second child of the Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has joined her father in lambasting students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho in Oyo State, who staged a protest over the continued closure of their school. The school is jointly owned by the Oyo and Osun State Governments and had been shut for about eight months. The students took their protest to the Governor’s Office in Agodi, Ibadan, where Ajimobi addressed them, using what many have termed uncouth language.
Ajibola’s father told the students that they lacked manners for not respecting constituted authority. He said he remains the constituted authority in their case.
The video footage from the students’ encounter with Governor Ajimobi, courtesy of Sahara Reporters Television, can be found below.
However, apparently in anger following the booing and jeering of her father, Ajibola took to social media network, Instagram, to further lambast the students.
Ajibola, with the name: conceited_csj, wrote: “Generation of mannerless children, they don’t respect their parents, how will they respect the constitution.”
Reactions, have however started trailing the comment by Ajibola, with the response by Bernibeth saying: “Who is this animal again?”
Modebela.com said: “Omo buruku jati jati.” This translates to: A wicked child.
moscobabs: On the 12th of December, 1999, the executive governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was shaken to the core of his existence. With tremor in his voice, he narrated how he was almost gunned down during the early hours of that day. Tinubu explained that he and his entourage were on their way home after inspecting the refuse clearing exercise of the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) and the monitoring of the Rapid Response Squad when all of a sudden the access road to the Lagos State Government House along Marina was blocked by some vehicles and a massive crowd.
At that moment, Tinubu said his security details tried to clear them and make way for his convoy but that was when chaos ensued. The policemen attached to him were attacked and bullets were rained on Tinubu’s car. The security forces guarding the governor fired back and a fierce gun battle ensued. Tinubu said as the bullets kept flying on both sides, a section of his security forces shielded him and took him to his residence.
Initially, there was some confusion as to the exact time the governor was attacked. The earliest reports put the time at about 12:30 am of that day. But later, Mike Okiro, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police said the attack against Tinubu was carried out about 3:30am. Tinubu himself said he had left the government house at about 2:30 am after discussions with his last guest. Tinubu’s aides on their own told reporters that the inspection tour lasted for about half an hour or so in order for the governor to arrive home in time for the early morning prayers and the early morning meal which must be taken before 5:30 am during the Muslim Ramadan month of fasting. Thus, they said the time of the attack was around 3:30 am.
For Charles Akaya, the deputy commissioner of police in charge of the criminal investigation department (CID), the attack took place 3:00 am. But the confusion was not only about the precise time but also about the people who really wanted Tinubu dead. According to the police, those who attacked Governor Tinubu with the intention of assassinating him were none other than members of the militant Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC). The police put the blame on OPC and said four of the attackers were killed by the police while seven were arrested.
moscobabs: On the other side, some aides of Tinubu insisted that the attackers were actually armed robbers and not OPC members as said by the police. They also said there was no assassination attempt on Governor Bola Tinubu. But who wanted Tinubu dead? Well, in August 1999, a big scandal broke out with Tinubu accused of falsifying his educational qualifications. Tinubu cried out saying his political opponents were behind the scandal and were engaging in a smear campaign against his name with the eventual plan of removing him as the governor of Lagos. Therefore, the initial speculation was that his opponents were the ones behind the assassination attempt.
To add more fuel to this accusation, a chieftain of Tinubu’s political party, the Alliance for Democracy, AD, was arrested in connection with the assassination attempt. The whole plot assumed a new twist when Lateef Oshodi, the leader of the group that attacked Tinubu said that he belonged to the Ganiyu Adams faction of the OPC. He also said they were very unhappy with the way Tinubu settled the Ketu/Mile 12 market crisis that erupted between Yoruba and Hausa traders in November 1999. Tinubu had imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the area and gave the police the order to embark on a manhunt for the OPC factional leader Adams.
But some people were not convinced that OPC was in anyway involved in the attempt on Tinubu’s life. One of those people was Abraham Adesanya, leader of the pan-Yoruba organization Afenifere who said there was a grand plan to demonize the OPC. Another chieftain, Ayo Opadokun, the general secretary of the Afenifere also said the leadership and members of OPC are respected and well-behaved people who shunned all forms of crime and focused only on the protection of the Yoruba people. Frederick Fasheun, the leader of the original OPC faction said OPC had nothing to do with the attack on Tinubu’s convoy. Fasheun said OPC’s work was to protect the Yoruba people and their interests and could not possibly attack Tinubu who is a Yoruba man himself. But Fasheun did not stop there. He also, like the police, pointed the accusing fingers at the OPC faction led by Ganiyu Adams accusing them of relentless violence and numerous attacks on Yorubas and non-Yorubas.
moscobabs: Fasheun was not blabbing. On the 14th of December, 1999, some armed members of the militant faction of the OPC launched a devastating attack on the private hospital of Fasheun in Mushin. They set the hospital on fire and also destroyed three vehicles and one ambulance. Luckily for Fasheun, he was not present in the hospital when the attackers were unleashing their terror.
Tinubu’s had many enemies on many fronts and one of them at that time was the legal luminary and human rights activist Gani Fawehinmi. He had engaged in a legal battle with the police over allegations that Tinubu forged his qualifications. Fawehinmi called on the inspector-general of the police to meticulously investigate the attack on Tinubu because the whole incident looked too suspicious. Fawehinmi said he suspected that the ‘propagandist machine’ of the Lagos State government was the one at work. He accused Tinubu of spreading false rumours just like Adolf Hitler did with the burning of the German parliament in 1933 to pave way for him to clamp down on the Jews and gypsies.
Fawehinmi said that since the forgery scandal against Tinubu broke out in August 1999 that a lot of strange events had been happening in Lagos which included five communal clashes in which over 200 people were killed. The Tinubu camp did not find this funny at all. Dele Alake, special adviser and commissioner for information said Fawehinmi was only using his access to the media to talk crap. Alake said during the Sani Abacha dictatorial regime, gunmen attacked Adesanya and Wada Nas who was the special adviser to the late general accused Adesanya of organizing the attack against himself but that with the trial of Abacha’s gunmen, the truth was being revealed to the whole world. Alake said:
‘ I will therefore equate Fawehinmi’s statement with that of Wada Nas during the days of Abacha.’
On the side of the police, the seven suspects they arrested who claimed to be members of the OPC were Yemi Solomon, Rasaki Alatishe, Kayode Olubori, Taye Fagbola, Ayodele Enikanoshe, Ganiyu Nurudeen and Kayode Akinwale. Lateef Oshodi, leader of the group was arrested during the process of investigation. The police also said an unnamed chieftain of the Alliance for Democracy, AD, had also been arrested on the suspicion of sponsoring the attack on Governor Tinubu.
The suspects arrested by the police also had theirs to say. They said they were actually holding a meeting at Agbole Etti, a sub-clan in Lagos Island area of Tapa Oshodi with its own Eyo masquerade, when reports reached them that there was a robbery operation going on at the Tafawa Balewa Square where two OPC members were being robbed. The suspects said they organized other members to ambush the robbers. According to the OPC suspects, the convoy of the governor ran into them when they were engaged in a shootout with the armed robbers. They said they did not even know that Tinubu was in the entourage when they opened fire on the governor’s security men. Oshodi denied the allegation that some disgruntled politicians sponsored them. He said:
‘Nobody gave us money. This is a voluntary job.’
The police commissioner Okiro said they recovered some charms and dangerous weapons from the OPC suspects and told Lagosians there was enough security and police presence in Lagos State. Tinubu did not see it from that angle as he appealed to the federal government to allow for state police so he could go ahead and train about 20,000 policemen. President Olusegun Obasanjo did not agree, state police remains a big issue in Nigeria today while Tinubu triumphed against all odds to become one of Nigeria’s most dogged political strategists.
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME.
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REFERENCES
Who Wants Tinubu Dead? Wale Akin Aina, Newswatch, December 27, 1999, pages 16, 17, 18.
lalasticlala: Here is the controversial video of President Buhari's daughter, Hanan Buhari, waving from the Presidential Jet which caused uproar on social media.
