₦airaland Forum

IRT killings: Shocking revelations emerge as top Taraba politicians fingered in bloody clash


Fresh facts have emerged over the recent clash between men of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police and some personnel of the Nigerian Army in Ibbi area of Taraba State.

Recall that the two security agencies have been at loggerheads over the killings of some cops in Taraba State penultimate week ago.

However, latest revelation by the Taraba Truth and Justice Committee showed that there might be a political dimension to the clash.

According to the group, the clash might not be unconnected with the ongoing power tussle between the All Progressives Congress, APC, senatorial candidate, Ishaku Bauka, and his Peoples Democratic Party’s counterpart, Emmanuel Bwacha, that won the election.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee said it was able to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that indeed what happened in Ibbi was a fall out of a political disagreement between two prominent politicians who have been trying to outsmart each other using the instrument of the Nigeria Police Force.

In an investigative report released by the group on Friday, the group said the kidnap suspect, Hamisu Wadume might be working for one of the politicians, hence, the clash between the security agencies.

The report signed by its President, Josiah Kifasi, called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency invite top politicians from Taraba South Senatorial District for questioning on what they know about the activities of Hamisu Wadume.


The report reads in full.


The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee a select committee was set up by concerned stakeholders in Taraba state to unravel the mystery surrounding events that led to the death of three IRT operatives who went on a mission to the effect that arrest of an alleged kidnapping kingpin Hamisu Wadume in Taraba state.

The committee was mandated amongst other things to reveal the identities of the key actors in the skirmish, with the view to putting issues in proper perspective and to aid the presidential investigative panel in the task ahead of them.

Consequently, the Taraba Truth and Justice Committee carried out a detailed investigation on the security concerns in Taraba state by interacting with identified key players within Ibbi community and Jalingo the state capital. Critical stakeholders in the state were consulted, and their opinions and positions put side by side with the prevailing realities.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee were able to establish that the incident in Ibbi was not a happenstance. It is a result of a history of political gladiators wielding their powers in a bid to outsmart each other. This is on the heels that the battle for the control of Taraba South Senatorial district is a significant factor that might have led to the skirmishes that resulted recently.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee were not able to fully establish the fact that Hamisu Wadume is a kidnapper. Though he lives a questionable lifestyle, he is known to be a supporter of political party bigwigs in the state, especially in Taraba South Senatorial District. His known source of livelihood as it were was fish selling and how he was able to amass wealth requires further investigations by the relevant authorities.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee were able to identify some grey areas where the relationship between the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Army went soar in the security architecture of the state.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee were able to establish the fact that there is an ongoing battle of supremacy between the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Army in Taraba state.


The fiercely contested elections in Taraba South Senatorial District between Emmanuel Bwacha of the People’s Democratic Party and Ishaku Bauka of the All Progressives Congress might have some security implications in the district, which houses to house Ibbi.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee were able to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that indeed what happened in Ibbi is a fall out of a political disagreement between two prominent politicians who have been trying to outsmart each other using the instrument of the Nigerian Police Force.

It can thus be stated that selfish politicians in the state are responsible for the level of insecurity experienced in the state. They have spared no cost or method, including buying the Nigerian Police over to achieve their political agenda.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee states that after an extensive deliberations and interactions, Hamisu Wadume might be working for one of the politicians, which in turn gave the politician undue advantage over the other and as such the Nigerian Police was called in to effect his arrest in an attempt to whittle the political power Hamisu Wadume brings to the table for his paymaster.

This is also on the heels that Hamisu Wadume commands significant grassroots following due to his generous nature, and with this advantage, he has been able to play himself into a position of strength and relevance in the political arena.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee were able to establish that part of the issue in the state in the build-up to the 2023 gubernatorial elections where the battle to succeed the incumbent governor has started in earnest. So as such politicians with interest have begun making ways for the actualizing of their political ambitions and one of such ways it was established is a clampdown of those loyal to their perceived opponents.



The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee after a painstaking process, regrettably conclude that the activities of selfish politicians in the state if not curtailed might turn Taraba state into a killing field. The fact that there is an unholy alliance between the Nigerian Police in Taraba State and politicians portends great danger for the sustenance of peace and tranquillity in the state.

The Taraba Truth and Justice Committee in light of the avalanche of information at its disposal with regards to the unfortunate incident in Ibbi that led to the death of three police officers attached to the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team, as a result of this make the following recommendations:

That the federal government should as a matter of urgency invite top politicians from Taraba South Senatorial District for questioning on what they know about the activities of Hamisu Wadume.

That the federal government should investigate the closeness of the hierarchy of the Taraba State Police Command to top politicians in the state and why it took the intervention of the members of the IRT from Abuja to effect an arrest in Taraba state.

The Federal government must mandate the Taraba state government to provide answers on why the activities of political thugs fester unhindered in the state.
That there should be sweeping deployments of police and army officers in the state with immediate effect.

El-Zakzaky seeking escape route from justice- Group warns US, UK over IMN leader's refusal to take medication in India

The Advocates of Social Justice For All (ASJA) has reacted to the refusal of the leader of the outlawed Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, to take his medication in Indian hospital where he was flown to for treatment.

Recall that a Kaduna State court had granted the IMN permission to travel abroad for medication.

However, latest report had it that El-Zakzaky has refused taking medication from doctors in the Indian hospital, insisting that he wants to be treated by those booked to treat him before he and his wife left from Nigeria.

Reacting, however, ASJA said the claim by El-Zakzaky was a ploy to escape route from justice.

The group further called on El-Zakzaky to accept treatment, complete the treatment and return home to face justice

His speech reads below.

Addressing newsmen on Wednesday, Venatius Asogo, President of ASJA advised the government to immediately exploit diplomatic channels, particularly with India and the other countries that he could transit through to arrive in Iran.


In keeping with a court ruling allowing the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Mr. Ibrahim el-Zakzaky, seek medical treatment in India, the Federal Government facilitated his travel to the country to commence his treatment.
Recall that the government of Kaduna state expressed reservations about this trip. The state, among other things, predicted that el-Zakzaky will like flee India to Iran. If the IMN leader ever makes it to this Islamic Republic then we can all be certain that it will result in unmitigated disaster. He will be able to run the terrorist organization from Iran, which has the reputation of being a state sponsor of terrorism.

Nigerians must equally not lose sight of the fact that 186 Shia doctors from Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq had written a vexatious letter to the Federal Government asking for el-Zakzaky to be flown abroad for multidisciplinary treatment without specifying a destination country. The implication of this letter, even at a time the Indian trip has been finalized, is that they plan to route the IMN leader through any of six countries before ultimately smuggling him into Iran.

With these backgrounds, we are worried about the stories emanating from India since el-Zakzaky and hi wife arrived in that country. Update from the Indian hospital indicated that he has been refusing treatment from doctors while insisting on particular doctors that are apparently part of the 186 Shia doctors that wrote the referenced letter.

He even went as far as creating drama and lying that Nigeria switched his doctors in order to eliminate him. If he was not eliminated for the period he was in custody here in Nigeria he definitely is not worth wasting international efforts upon now that he is in the jurisdiction of another country. We also note, on the strength of his recalcitrance, that the gamut of symptoms that a visiting gang of Iranian doctors diagnosed him with were nothing but a ruse to make him escape Nigeria.

We further observed that the IMN leader was lamenting that he was under heavy security guard at the Indian hospital. This observation on his part is comical because it shows that his expectation of his medical trip was the one of escape from his ongoing trial in Nigeria. We wonder if he seriously thought he would be treated to a five star hotel experience without guards so that he can sneak into Iran.

It bears mentioning that not only are the security operatives needed to prevent him from escaping, they are as well a necessity to ensure his fanatical members do not secretly murder him to sour relationship between Nigeria and India while making our dear country appear bad.

A dimension we will like to call attention to is the fact that the IMN leader who claimed to be mortally ill and under heavy security did not just refuse treatment but also had time to make an audio recording to resume inciting his members even from far away India. If he can commit such inflammatory act while receiving treatment and under guard India we can then imagine what he will do when he finds his way into Iran.

These behaviours on the part of el-Zakzaky, going by these reports emanating from some quarters that he no longer fancies the Indian hospitals, which he desperately sought and for which his followers made all manner of trouble including killing innocent Nigerians, is the height of callousness and wickedness by the IMN leader.

For him to have said he had his own arrangement with certain India doctors, which tallies with the widespread claims that Indian has some of the best doctors in the world, el-Zakzaky should remain there. The only place he is free to leave India for is Nigeria, where his trial will resume once he sets foot in this jurisdiction. His best bet is to allow professional doctors without sectarian sentiments treat him while forsaking the coalition of charlatans that had petitioned President Buhari. El-Zakzaky should accept treatment, complete the treatment and return home to face justice.

We remind IMN and el-Zakzaky that they cannot continue to fool Nigerians with his drama, which is nothing but a decoy to escape justice over the numerous acts of terror that he is being tried for in Nigeria. He must by now know that India, as a committed ally of Nigeria, will not allow him become a fugitive from justice. Authorities of that country will see to it that he gets well in time to return to Nigeria and hear the verdict in the case of treason and other charges against him.

The federal government must take immediate measures to guard against the fast one that suspect is trying to pull on the country. This will include approaching to amend the leave it granted him to travel. To the best of our knowledge, the approval to travel did not include permission to produce, distribute and promote terrorist propaganda. This singular step is necessary to prevent el-Zakzaky from using his treatment in India as a cover to target inciting messages against Nigeria.

We advise that the government immediately exploit diplomatic channels, particularly with India and the other countries that he could transit through to arrive in Iran. The message must be put out there for countries to know not to provide refuge or passage that el-Zakzaky is seeking in order arrive in Iran and from that country send messages to radicalize their youths and instill extreme religious views in the population.

Advocates for Social Justice for All (ASJA) warns countries that are dispose to be tolerant of evil in pursuit of political correctness that making intervention for el-Zakzaky is at the same level with embracing fire to their bosoms. Their countries will eventually be contaminated by the sectarian extremism that the suspect has promoted in his bid to destabilize Nigeria. Specifically, the United States, the United Kingdom and European Union are warned that El-Zakzaky is the leader of a designated terror group in Nigeria. The youths of these nations will pay the price of being radicalized should they make the mistake of packaging the IMN leader as a victim.

By Ayo Obaju

" Look at our collapsing public utilities; our inefficient and wasteful parastatals and state- owned companies...if you want electricity, you buy your own generator; if you want water, you sink your own borehole; if you want to travel, you set up your own airline. One day soon, said a friend of mine, you will have to build your own Post Office to send your letters."---Chinua Achebe ( 1983)

Nobody is persuaded to love him neither would anyone be induced to hate him. But President Muhammadu Buhari has more friends or admirers than foes. It is the experience of every popular and selfless leader. He attracts cult-like apostates, because he exudes the image of an emancipator.

Whatever is your emotions on President Buhari, your innermost, honest assessment still reminds you, the populism of this great and charismatic leader is waxing stronger. He has offered himself as a friend to his enemies, arch antagonists and even cretins, who delude in his malicious persecution.

Buhari has remained popular in Nigeria, Africa and the whole world for incontestable reasons. It is not controvertable that this leader can tolerate anything, except what is potent to impede or imperil the progress, development, peace and security of Nigeria. Meet him on this doorstep, you will find Buhari defiantly uncompromising.

As reflected by the erudite scholar and author, Chinua Achebe's title of his book, President Buhari knows, "The Trouble With Nigeria," (1983). Mr. President knows insecurity and endemic corruption are Nigeria's infectious, immortal enemies, which must by crushed with a big hammer, relentlessly and with immediacy.

Achebe and a few other notable Nigerian patriots as well as the generality of the masses of Nigeria have encountered and grappled with these twine evils for decades. When President Buhari sauntered on the leadership podium in 2015, the fangs of insecurity and corruption had insanely blighted the serenity, peace and progress of Nigeria, the world's most populous black nation.

These were the two basic, but very fundamental and monstrous problems the Nigerian masses identified as constituting everyday anxieties and nightmares to the people.

Nigerians had seen leaders and experienced different administrations, but these problems have rather accentuated, instead of waning. There were palpable frustrations, pains, agonies, and disenchantments in the land before Buhari's ascension to the throne of leadership. The people yearned for a messiah; the masses wanted a leader who could exculpate them.

And God Himself delivered President Buhari to a traumatized and humiliated nation and a people for redemption. He has kept his eyes focused on this trajectory and has delivered shocking impacts.

Mr. President who is conversant with the covenant he made with the masses of Nigeria has neither deviated nor backslided in the last four years.

The Buhari Presidency has etched it's name on the pysche of Nigerians and Africa as a populist administration for it's exceptional and commendable exploits in surmounting Nigeria's multifarious insecurity challenges, especially Boko Haram insurgency.

The Buhari Presidency, through a reformed and re-equipped Nigerian military, confronted Boko Haram terrorism like a wounded lion. And with a crack soldier, COAS and resilient leader of the counter- insurgency operations in Nigeria, like Lt. Gen. TY Buratai, Boko Haram insurgents have received more than they ever bargained or contemplated in the last four years.

Nigeria under Buhari has been able to stop Boko Haram bomb explosions in Abuja and any other Northern cities in the throes of terrorism. He has liberated multiple and all the LGAs under the captivity of Boko Haram. Religious and community leaders deposed by insurgents have been reinstated and kingdoms restored.


The likes of the Shehu of Bama and his Dikwa, Masa II counterpart, Ibn Umar El Kanemi, were some victims of insurgency who deserted their communities to reside in Maiduguri. They have all returned to their deserted communities; while the rehabilitation and re- construction process is steadily in progress.

Echoes of excited voices of thousands of Nigerians in gulags of Boko Haram as hostages reverberates everywhere in the Northeast. IDPs camps are becoming forlorn.

Evidently for the first time in five years, the Shehu of Bama Kingdom in Borno State, Kyari Ibn Umar El-Kanemi, and his people joined the rest of world in celebrating the global Muslim feast of Eid-el-Kabir in his domain. It's quite relieving in every consideration.


Nigerians recall with much sadness the 2013 Boko Haram deadly massacres in Bama. Over 300 Nigerians lost their lives in that terrorists onslaught.The community was consistently the target of Boko Haram terrorists years back, forcing natives and other inhabitants to flee their ancestral homes. But Bama's gory tales, like other communities have been positively rejigged.

Therefore, the Northeast is no longer an enclave where terrorism once reigned. Or Nigeria is no more under the spell of insurgency which ravaged Abuja, the nation's capital almost on daily basis; or Bama where Kings were sent out of their kingdoms; women chased away from their homes and children dislocated and disconnected from their parents.

Boko Haram can longer lay claims to Gwoza as it's administrative capital of conquered territories in the Northeast. This was where they cruelly tortured and slaughtered Nigerians.

Furthermore, other variants of terrorism which previously ravaged Nigeria in violent insurrections have been tackled by the Buhari Presidency. Nigerians now have respite from insecurity threats such as militancy in the Niger Delta; IPOB's armed secession agitations in the Southeast; armed banditry and cattle rustling, farmers/ herders skirmushes; sectarian and ethno-religious upheavals.

No part of Nigeria is currently under the siege of terrorists and insurrectionists; detonating lethal explosives, executing reckless abductions of Nigerians or where rampaging killer swords holds sway in mindless bloodletting.

But where President Buhari has touched on the sore nerve of national consciousness defiantly is his anti-corruption campaigns. The anti-corruption battles against looters and economic vultures as spearheaded by anti-graft agencies such as the EFCC and the ICPC have posted stunning results.

Nigeria had the unenviable and notorious fame as corruption kingpins in Africa and around the world. The afflicting monster of corruption was not only endemic, but embarrassingly very pervasive.

As far back as 1983, Achebe succinctly and pitiably lamented the fate of Nigeria on corruption in his book; " The Trouble With Nigeria," when he stated;
"My frank and honest opinion is that anybody who can say that corruption in Nigeria has not yet become alarming is either a fool , a crook or else, does not live in this country."

But pleasurably, President Buhari has silently changed the negative narrative which formerly foisted Nigeria on pariah status in the comity of nations.

Under Buhari's administration and in just four years, there is massive recovery of looted Commonwealth in cash and properties as well as convictions of top -flight politicians and leaders who were hitherto untouchable. It was strange that though looters, these odious public servants were feted and treated like sacred cows, a disposition which emboldened others to intensify indulgence into corrupt practices.

Today, former state Governors, Ministers, parlimentarians, high profile businessmen, party Chieftains and other fraudsters are either serving jail terms or are being prosecuted over corrupt enrichment charges.

At least, there is visible public apprehension and phobia in engaging in sleaze and fraud now, as against the competitive looting and plundering of public resources as obtained in the past. Nigerians are elated with President Buhari that sanity is gradually being restored and the country has rebounced on the path of progress on it's match to the Promise Land under the leadership of Buhari.

Therefore, the consensus reached by Nigerians in 2015 that President Buhari is the right leader to turn the tide and reconfirmed it in 2019 with popular votes is not only rewarding for the reawakening of Nigerians, but has paid off handsomely.

It is the protective shield of Buhari and the reason his administration is on an unstoppable populist radar and insulated from fraudulently ambitious politcal hynas.

Obaju wrote from Ogori-Magogo, Kogi State.

*Taraba IRT Killings: Police embarking on media trial to pre-empt presidential panel report - human rights group*

The Good Governance and Leadership Project in Nigeria (GGLPN) has accused the Nigerian Police of embarking on media trail in the Taraba Intelligence Response Team (IRT) killings with the motive of influencing the outcome.

In compliance with President Muhammadu Buhari's directive, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, had on Friday, constituted a 7-man Joint Investigation Panel to unravel the circumstances that led to the unfortunate Wukari incident.

The panel, headed by Rear Admiral IT Olaiya, has a representative each from the Nigerian Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, Department of State Service and the Defence Intelligence Agency.

The expectation was that the Nigerian Army and Police would temporarily seize further media clashes, allowing the panel to carry out its mandate.

But according to the GGLPN, the Police kept on with its onslaught against the Army and even took an awkward step, leaking the progress being made in the investigation to the media.

In a statement signed by President, Whyte Odili, the group said such media trial can only truncate the exercise in a way that the eventual culprits may evade justice.

The Good Governance and Leadership Project therefore urged the law enforcement agency to stop its ongoing media trial and campaign of calumny against the Army and instead allow the law take its course.

The group, however, warned the Police that any attempt to influence the outcome of the investigative panel would be met with stern resistance.

Read full statement below:

Gentlemen of the press, the Good Governance and Leadership Project in Nigeria (GGLPN) is among organizations that were pleased when Mr. President ordered an investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of three operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force following a mix up with troops manning checkpoints on the Ibi-Jalingo Expressway, Taraba State.

We noted the interventions made by specific individuals and organizations that sued for a ceasefire to the media war that erupted between the Nigerian Police and the Nigerian Army. GGLPN refrained from joining these calls for a ceasefire at that time because we believe that that the point has been made by all those that had intervened. The media war between two government agencies, albeit over a tragic incident, presents the country as divided and is therefore uncalled for.

It is disconcerting that the seeming unilateral cessation of hostile communication on the part of the Nigeria Police Force against the Nigerian Army has again resumed. Perhaps worse than the first phase of media war, the nature of activities being implemented by the Nigerian Police or by its proxies are detrimental to the country in the long term.

Our assertion in this regard is informed by the fact that the setting up of an investigation panel at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, should have commanded the highest level of consideration from all parties so that the probe panel will be allowed to do its work. This is necessary to ensure objectivity.

However, what we have seen is a situation where the progress being made in the investigation of the case is being leaked to the media. Our assessment is that this leakage of information is being done to create unnecessary sensationalism around the case. It has created a situation where what is a national tragedy is being serialized like a movie show or a crime novel. This approach to the issue trivializes the magnitude of loss the country has suffered while detracting from the focus needed on the part of the investigation panel to unravel what transpired.

The dangers associated with the media trial being conducted by the Nigerian Police are all too glaring. Understandably, the police are used to media trials of its suspects given the way it usually parades suspects without ever securing convictions against them. Continuing with the current trend of media trial is therefore likely to truncate the investigation into the incident in a way that persons that will eventually be indicted may be able to evade justice.

This is a situation we will not like to see because it is crucial that anyone found culpable in the Taraba killings is brought to justice, something that will not happen if the entire process is reduced into a charade or roadshow.

The Good Governance and Leadership Project in Nigeria (GGLPN) calls on the Nigerian Police Force to stop its ongoing media trial around the death of the IRT members. While this might have been the norm for some law enforcement agencies to criminalize suspects in the court of public opinion, it is a strategy that has no place in the current situation.

The Good Governance and Leadership Project believes that the Nigerian Police Force should desist from its campaign of calumny against the Nigerian Army through its provocative and irrational statements since the aftermath of the unfortunate incident in Taraba State.

The Nigerian Police must realize that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces have directed that action be taken on the matter and it consequently behoves on it to stop further dramatizing of the whole issue.

The Nigerian Police must not attempt to influence the outcome of the investigative panel, where it has been making strategic moves to serve as the lead investigating officer. This is not only suspicious but raises a red flag in the sincerity of purpose of the Nigerian Police Force with regards to unravelling the actual circumstances that led to the death of the three IRT operatives in Taraba state.

The Good Governance and Leadership Project in Nigeria therefore states that should the outcome of the investigative panel be compromised by the Nigerian Police Force; Nigerians would indeed conclude that there is more to the death of the three IRT operatives that the Nigerian Police is trying to shield from members of the general public.

This would be the case given the level of desperation that has been exhibited by the Nigerian Police in laying the blame squarely on the Nigerian Army even before the outcome of the investigative panel report.

The Good Governance and Leadership Project in Nigeria calls on the Nigerian Army to continue to refrain its officers and men from having any confrontation with police officers around the country despite the high level of provocation that has characterized the activities of the Nigerian Police in recent times with regards to the incident in Taraba State.

The Good Governance and Leadership Project also charges the members of the investigative panel to be objective in this national assignment to put issues in proper perspectives for the benefit of all and sundry.

The Investigative panel is also enjoined to carry out a thorough investigation by not leaving any stone unturned as this is necessary to put paid to various speculations and narratives that have taken centre stage in recent times.

The Good Governance and Leadership Project in Nigeria wishes to assure the families and relatives of those involved that justice would be served at the end of the investigative panel.

The Shehu of Bama Kingdom of Borno State, Kyari Ibn Umar El-Kanemi, has expressed delight after his people joined the rest of the world to mark the first Eid-el-Kabir celebration in his domains.

According to the monarch, this was the first time in almost five years the community partook in the religious feast celebrated across the globe by all Muslims.

"Today we are celebrating Sallah in Bama which we were not privileged to celebrate for the past five years,” an utterly elated Shehu stated on Monday.

“ Indeed we have to be grateful to Allah SWT for sparing our lives and non among us here today that is thinking to live up to this moment to grace this Sallah celebration in Bama."

Bama was the target of Boko Haram terrorists in the past, forcing natives and other inhabitants to flee their homes.

Umar El-Kanemi, the traditional ruler wasn't spared as his wife and daughter were reportedly abducted in 2014 and released two years after.

The monarch, alongside his counterpart from Dikwa, Masa II Ibn Umar El Kanemi, even fled their communities to reside in Maiduguri.

However, peace has since been restored to the area thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Army under the dogged leadership of Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai.

As part of the rehabilitation and reconstruction process, the monarchs returned in July in company of local government staff and primary school teachers accompanied by troops of Operation Lafiya Dole who regained the Kingdom back from Boko Haram terrorists .

An eyewitness account revealed that there was free movement of people around the town, especially in public places without fear of any violence or attacks by Boko Haram throughout the Sallah season .

There was also a mass prayer on Sunday for the first time in a long while, led by the monarch himself.

All these feats have been attributed to the gallantry of the Nigerian military and a decisive leadership

By Babatunde Olanrewaju


The Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) set up a joint investigation panel to unravel circumstances leading to the death of three members of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the police, which President Buhari subsequently asked the Defence Headquarters to take over.
It is noteworthy that the evidence needed to get to the root of this matter is being contaminated even as this piece is being written. Interestingly, the contamination is not taking place at the sad spot where the officers lost their lives. It is taking place in our collective consciousness, we are being bombarded with spin and manipulated content. The stories and half truth being dispensed to all of us on social media and, in some instances, the mainstream media are modifying our perception of what happened. Ultimately, facts could fuse with fiction to confuse even the most thorough mind.
An abridged version of the army’s account was that they received distress calls about a kidnapping and the IRT team soon forced its way past some checkpoints in a manner that made them fit the description of the “kidnappers” the army units were alerted about. What followed next was an exchange of gunfire at the end of which three of the IRT members and another civilian were dead. This abridged account immediately raises some issues that the honourable panel must look into.
First, it highlights the imperative of reverting civil policing back to the NPF. The failure of the police was the necessity that brought soldiers onto the streets. The efficiency with which the army neutralizes threats like Boko Haram terrorists can be seen in the body count from that tragic encounter with what is obviously be best team in the police force. Such efficient killing machines are not needed on our streets. Certainly not after what we was recorded in Taraba state.
The second issue is the pressing need to reorient policemen, especially those in specialized units like the IRT and SARS, that their operations are police operations and not Nollywood movie shoots. There is a degree of recklessness that comes from officers considering themselves as invincible, and that is irrespective of their track record. Members of the public can testify to the catastrophic outcomes that accompany such exaggerated actions. Only such behaviour will encourage the ill fated team to keep beating checkpoints without stopping to clarify their mission of reveal their identify.
Furthermore, someone had suggested that the team possibly didn’t stop to identify themselves at the military checkpoints ostensibly because they felt that criminals in uniform had laid ambush for them as part of a plot to free the kidnap suspect they were transporting. If this were true it will be the greatest travesty ever as it will amount to policemen dressed like ragamuffins suspecting military men in uniform of being hoodlums. A first recommendation here is to restore confidence in military and paramilitary uniforms, all security agencies must be proportionately hard on criminals that operate in uniforms because of the damage they are doing to our collective psyche – the point where even a police team is wary of stopping at a roadblock mounted by men in military uniform testifies to the extent to which policing has failed.
Then the police itself must address the manner in which its personnel, particularly its special teams – again IRT and SARS – dress. Members of its Anti-Terrorism Team get some credit for dressing the part expected of them. But to have policemen dress in jeans, t-shirts, caftans, tennis shoes, sandals and even bathroom slippers is a recipe for disaster – it always leads to mistaken Identity on the fast lane. There have been instances when civilians mistook them for robbers manning road blocks, refuse to stop or attempt to speed past, get gunned down in the process, and such episodes get swept under the carpet. In Taraba, the shoe was on the other foot. Soldiers mistook policemen for kidnappers and the unthinkable happened.
The panel must look at recommending changes to procedures. It is efficient for plainclothes policemen on covert operation to have stormed the location where the suspect was picked up to effect his arrest. An immediate transfer into the custody of the divisional police station would have averted disaster. The station would have of course conveyed him in a vehicle that is conspicuously marked “Police” and have him accompanied by men in that uniform Nigerians are accustomed to seeing. These measures, combined with the team properly identifying itself at the point of making the arrest, would have reduce the likelihood of the mistaken identity that brought us to this sorry pass. There is nothing to be ashamed of in the police uniform and personnel must learn to be properly kitted.
There is something to be said for communication too. We may not have noticed but too much of the communication around security operations is now conducted on mobile phones. The Federal Government should invest in overhauling radio communication equipment for security and military agencies. The personnel of these agencies must equally be retrained to appreciate that their Android phones or Whatsapp cannot replace the old and trusted radio communication that would have allowed the IRT reach out to soldiers of the Nigerian Army that manned those checkpoints. The tragedy might have been avoided.
Even with the best of preventive measures as itemized, bad things still happen, which makes is necessary that the panel must caution security agencies to show restraints when there is a crisis between or among them. Poor information management practically turned the tragedy in Taraba into a bonanza for criminals, who will now likely exploit the possibility of setting security agencies against each other to evade arrest. The point must therefore be made that the cyberspace is not the place to settle inter-agencies squabbles; there are acceptable channels and fora that deliver better results than doing dirty laundry in the market square as was the case in this instance.
These are the issues that I find disconcerting, the ones that the current bedlam on social media is distorting and that we might lose sight of unless the panel takes an holistic view of its assignment.

Olanrewaju is a security analyst based in Lagos.

The Ówòkhówòkhó of appointment list, Seefor contracts and infrastructural projects in Edo State Govt House.

..... A Snake in suit disguised as the chief of staff, Taiwo Akerele who has laid a political mayhem on party members by advising His Excellency the Governor of the state wrongly on appointees, a siege on government house staffs in the most inhumane way one can ever think of by taking advantage of the ongoing crisis that he secretly started on media, an expert in blackmailing almost everyone in top government positions.

Taiwo Akerele speaks ill of the Governor, his PA and other members of his cabinet. From a reliable source; he is pilling all sorts of lies so that he can attack this administration just Incase his given the boot.

He has fabricated series of online articles and post just to blackmail people in this administration including the so called TJ (well not so innocent anymore) and now Justice Omoregbe on the recent scandal rocking the Libya returnees by the help of one Solomon Okoduwa (SSA on Human Trafficking). It’s a pity that a young man can stoop so low to be used as a tool of betrayal against Justice Omoregbe.

Taiwo Akerele has repeatedly said he saw more money when he was the Seefor projects and contracts coordinator than any other departmental contracts and budget inflated, even they were rumors of direct payment of PPE (Personal protective equipment) into his personal account. This same Snake misled and deceived a government contractor named Mr. Serg to a point of bankruptcy due to kickback percentage he took from him.
Same Akerele who is known to collect kickbacks from individuals, firms who bid for contracts knowing fully well they won’t get it. He’s classic excuse is “the Governor is very selfish about things like this”. Such scheme must stop because it’s giving the government and governor a bad name and dragging this administration to the mud as a COS. We’re suspecting he’s one of the racketeers that Mandela Obaseki was referring to.

This crafty and cheap being who goes around hotels by himself to pay for rooms of dignitaries does not fit to be in such position, how low can one ever be when you have your assistants and caretaker committees to do such.
Your duties is as the chief of staff not a blackmailer and confusionist. The Governor needs a new chief of staff and Taiwo Akerele is better off running errands not a chief of staff with no dignity and charisma.

Concern citizen of Edo State.

Buhari centre fires back at Timi Frank, says Jonathan should apologize to Nigerians, not Buhari


A research center dedicated to documenting the ideals of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency known as Buhari Phenomenal Leadership Centre has fired back at a political activist and former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, over his recent call on Nigerians, particularly those who worked against the re-election of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to publicly tender an apology if the country must move forward.

Frank had in a statement issued during the weekend said unless Nigerians prefer to continue in pretence, the era of former President Jonathan managed well the challenge of insecurity compared to what the country has now.

Mr. Timi Frank in his statement further asserted that “It is obvious now that insecurity in our Nation has gone out of hand. The challenge was limited to a zone under Goodluck Jonathan, but presently no state, including General Buhari’s home state is secured.
“Under Jonathan, Fulani herdsmen were using a stick, but they now carry AK 47. Under Jonathan, lives of Nigerians were more important despite the challenges, but under Buhari, cows are more important than lives. There were a democracy and the rule of law under Jonathan, but it is now the rule of force and impunity. Under Jonathan, National Assembly was active and working but it’s now a rubber stamp.”

Responding to his call, the pro-Buhari group said Frank and his gang of detractors should desist from what it termed as “their shameful antics.”

Akindele Aremu, Director of Media and Strategy of thee group in a statement forwarded to our reporter on Sunday, insisted that the apology in question should come from his benefactor, Goodluck Jonathan under whose administration Nigeria almost went into extinction.

His statement reads below.

The Buhari Phenomenal Leadership Centre as a result of this states that while Mr. Timi Frank is free to express himself as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, however, decorum must not be sacrificed at the altar of self-aggrandizement.

Mr. Timi Frank, whose history is replete with controversies, went too far in his hallucination by stating that Nigerians should apologize for making the right choice of voting out an incompetent and corrupt government out of office.

This is mindful of the fact that Nigerians voted en masse for the candidature of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 because of the failure and near collapse of governance in the country, coupled with the spate of insecurity that saw to the takeover of over 16 local government areas in North-East Nigeria by Boko Haram Terrorist.

The Buhari Phenomenal Leadership Centre is appalled by the gross insensitivity to the sensibilities of Nigerians by Timi Frank in his poorly prepared statement. It is expected that since the likes of Timi Frank have tried all avenues to remain relevant in the scheme of things in the country by forming the habit of making unfounded and illogical statements in an attempt to attract the public attention that he so craves.

The Buhari Phenomenal Leadership Centre wishes to state that Timi Frank by this exhibition has indeed confirmed that he is working hand in hand with those that do not wish the country well. Timi Frank is a national Embarrassment to Nigeria and the people of the South-South region in Nigeria.

It is evident that his statements are side effects of the failure of him to curry favour from the present administration and as such he has constituted himself as a nuisance in the society by making unguarded statements which are often lacking in merit and substance, such as this.

The Buhari Phenomenal Leadership Centre wishes to sound a note of warning to Mr. Timi Frank and his sponsors to desist from their campaign of calumny against the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The act of Timi Frank comparing the administration of Goodluck Jonathan to that of President Muhammadu Buhari is the height of an insult to the millions of Nigerians that suffered untold hardship and deprivation under the PDP years of misrule in Nigeria.

The likes of Timi Frank also failed to admit that the bulk of the challenges facing Nigeria today were a creation of the Goodluck Jonathan administration. And that Nigerians decided to take their destinies into their own hands by voting Goodluck Jonathan out of office is what Timi Frank and his cahoots have failed to come to terms with.

This is the time for Timi Frank to desist from his shameful antics because the apology in question should come from his benefactor, Goodluck Jonathan under whose administration Nigeria almost went into extinction.

By Frank Itodo
 
In the annals of the Nigerian Army, it has never been this tough. The crisis in North-East Nigeria is taking its toll, and this calls for concern from all critical stakeholders. That we have managed to stay secured remains a mystery because the Nigerian Army has been stretched thin in the task of ensuring that Nigeria’s territory is preserved from eternal aggression and also ensuring that every Nigerian is free to go about his or her endeavours without fear.
 
This didn’t happen overnight. In my opinion, it is as a result of the failure of past leadership in the country to correctly orientate and equip the Nigerian Police for greater efficiency. They felt it wasn’t such a big deal to have a responsive police force that would live up to expectation. So the result is the involvement of the Nigerian Army in roles that ordinarily the Nigerian Police should be able to handle.
 
The Nigerian Army had indeed saved the day when the nation was bedevilled with activities of militant groups. I recall the case of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which indeed tasked the operational effectiveness of the Nigerian Police that the Nigerian Army had to come to the rescue. And as usual, a crisis of phenomenal proportion was averted.
 
What Nigerians didn’t realize was that the Nigerian Police whose constitutional role it is to quell such uprising were helpless and could not match the violent nature of the IPOB militant group. And as they say, the rest is also history and no form of commendation was extended to the Nigerian Army.
 
We were also witnessed to the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers that almost brought the economy of the country to its knees. Again the Nigerian Police was missing in action for lacking in the capacity to deal with the threat posed by the Niger Delta Avengers. This too became history not without the great sacrifices made by the Nigerian Army.
 
The interesting thing about the failure of the Nigerian Police int the discharge of its duties is the fact that at some point the Nigerian Army was simultaneously carrying out eleven military operations across the country at the same time. For example, there was Operation Lafiya Dole set up to counter-terrorism and Boko Haram insurgency. It was later expanded to specialized operations including “Operation Crackdown,” “Operation Gama Aiki,” and “Operation Safe Corridor.”
 
There was also Operation Crocodile Smile II, an exercise which involves amphibious war games in the Niger Delta region and parts of Ogun State. It was aimed at protecting the nation’s crude oil infrastructure. Operation Tsera Teku was launched in Warri, Delta state to check piracy in the Niger Delta region. Operation Awatse was started to dismantle the operational bases of pipeline vandals and militants in the coastal areas of southwest Nigeria.
 
Operation Sharan Daji/ Operation Harbin Kunama II was established in the Northwest to battle armed bandits, cattle rustlers and robbers operating mainly in Zamfara, Kaduna, and fringes of Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Kano states. Operation Safe Haven is stationed in Plateau State with areas of operation extending to Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa and Kwara state to quell ethno-religious conflicts and other criminal activities.
 
Operation Delta Safe This was set up to replace Operation Pulo Shield. It is aimed at containing security challenges in the Niger Delta, especially the protection of critical national assets and provision of security in the area. Amongst a host of others.
 
What does this tell us? It’s merely the fact that the Nigerian Police failed woefully in the above areas that the Nigerian Army had to step in. With such operations by the Nigerian Army, it is sufficing to say that the Nigerian Army has been indeed stretched thin. However, they have not buckled, and we do not need to wait for them to buckle before the right thing should be done.
 
The Nigerian Police must get serious and stop playing to the gallery. The times we are in requires that they put their best foot forward in the area of crime prevention, maintenance of law and order and dealing with societal disorders. The political authorities in Nigeria must commend the Nigerian Army for its invaluable contribution to the sustenance of peace in Nigeria.
 
The political authorities must also see the burden on the shoulders of the Nigerian Army with its various operations in the country and begin the process of overhauling the operations of the Nigerian Police for greater efficiency before things get out of hand.
 
I have reserved praises for the leadership of the Nigerian Army whose dynamism has been brought to bear in dealing with the myriads of security challenges in the country including those within its purview and those outside its purview. I cant but encourage the leadership of the Nigerian Army not to relent in this arduous task that has stretched it thin.
 
Also, for the leadership of the Nigerian Police, there ought to be a significant reorganization of its operations to reflect the exigencies of time. This is not the time to play to the gallery, but rather, this is the time to take a cue from the Nigerian Army and be the best they can be. If this is not done, then there would be no moral justification for officers and men of the Nigerian Police Force to continue to draw salaries monthly.
 
The task of securing Nigeria is not an impossible one. It only requires commitment and sincerity of purpose as exemplified by the conduct of the Nigerian Army. It is naturally expected that the Nigerian Police should take a cue from the Nigerian Army if they are indeed desirous of making meaningful contributions to peace and stability in Nigeria.


Itodo is a member of the public and contributed this article from Ikeja, Lagos.

By Oluwakemi Iyiola

One way to know a struggling publication or one seeking relevance is the tendency to feature one Timi Frank, presently posturing as an activists but prior to was roaming the media landscape with the expired designation of “former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC)”until it became apparent that this particular designation no longer sell. One fair disclosure that must be made is that the designation did not at any time amount to much since Frank got the job chiefly because the people of the south-south eschewed joining the APC as it will run contrary to the interest of their own, Goodluck Jonathan, who was then president and seeking re-election. In the words of some youths then, only an outcast, a scum of the south-south, will take up position in the APC against Jonathan’s interest – that was Timi Frank. His inclusion in the party was known to be because the political group, as it was then constituted, required the services of refuse disposal boys and it got one for a song and even less.


With this background knowledge, it is comical to read about Frank asking Nigerians, particularly those that worked against his return to office, to apologise to Jonathan. Whatever it is that Frank has been consuming, he has grown bloated in recent week hopefully not from kidney or liver damage, is messing with his head big time. He feigned ignorance that the reason Jonathan was roundly defeated at the polls was because even his handlers knew that another term of him in office will be catastrophic for the country. It was the reason they collected billions from him in naira and dollars but refused to lift their fingers to work for his victory. Those who were passionate about Jonathan winning in 2015 consisted mostly of ethnic jingoists, who laid the foundation for whatever ethnic intolerance that the country is grappling with.
It borders on disgusting that a Timi Frank can be talking about insecurity in the land when his hero, Jonathan, who failed to be presidential in visiting the wrath of the state on those that were fuelling the security breaches in the land. It is also disingenuous persons that rose to prominence on the wing of cultism and strong arm politicking can be lecturing the country about insecurity when the activities that promoted them to social relevance directly correlate with the rise of insecurity. By the way, is Frank so challenged that he does not see a relationship between the disinformation campaign that the Jonathan government commissioned Cambridge Analytica to run in Nigeria and the misconception of Islamic supremacy among the not too educate people from a part of the country. Cambridge Analytica ran such effective lie about a phantom Islamization agenda that some people thought it was real, keyed into it and are now tormenting other Nigerians with it. In its home country, the company was disgraced to close shop and that was the company that Jonathan diverted public resources to fund.
When advisories urge people to stay off hard drugs and illicit substances it is for good reasons. It must take a yet to be classified hallucinogen for someone to claim that insecurity, a la terrorist attacks, was limited to just one zone of the country in the Jonathan years. Or it could be that Frank did not notice the barricades all over Abuja at time when he was commuting to receive the stipends that kept him from starving or finance a lifestyle of debauchery. In the period that our latter day activist experienced terrorism in only one zone, it was on record that Boko Haram cells were thriving as far south as Okene in Kogi state - they even attacked a military convoy and killed troops. Perhaps he used a different map for his permutation.
He also suggested that there is no rule of law under the present government and one begins to wonder if Frank is so far gone that he expects the state to be indifferent to crimes simply because the perpetrators identify as opposition members. With this kind of thinking it becomes easier to grasp the series of the protests at the instance of an opposition that has remained bitter over its inability to win fair and square. Their concept of rule of law is a freedom to incite others to violence in the name of freedom of expression while their notion of democratic participation is misconception that they can rise as a mob to sack a democratically elected government without recourse to the procedures enshrined in the constitution. If making rabble-rousers like this have a taste of the law is what Franks considers as the absence of the rule of law then the law should unleashed on his kind with its full force.
To think that a hatchet job master like Frank does not know the difference between treasury looters taking flight to escape their crimes and those who genuinely migrated as a matter of choice. In reality, the armchair activist is aware only of his circle of friends, who incidentally are treasury looters so they naturally fled abroad to evade justice. This is what made it appear to him that most of Nigeria’s population is on the lam, but the rest of us are not criminals like his pals. He should also pay attention and he would be educated to the reality of the Nigerians that have returned from the diaspora to set up businesses, perhaps he few minutes of interaction with Honorable Abike Dabiri-Erewa of the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission will illuminate the darkened corners of his mind.
One thing that Frank possibly got right is the claim that hunger and poverty were not so bad under Jonathan but it is important that he puts this aspect in the correct context. He along with his types were spending the handouts they got from the slush funds stolen by their senior associates in the Jonathan government to live lavishly on smoked salmon, champagne, cigars and other things that would be classified as luxury when measured against his total lack of identifiable means of income. Fast-forward to the Buhari era when there is no stolen funds to make the rounds then one will be compelled to agree that there is hunger in Frank’s land. Conversely, creative and hardworking Nigerians that were short-changed by that government can report improvement in their quality of life at the moment, albeit they have to work for every naira they spend.
That Nigeria was forced to endure the Jonathan years with this depth of misery and groping is something that no nation should ever have to endure; it is him and his associates that owe Nigerians apologies. To the extent that Frank misled himself to demand apology on behalf of Jonathan, he should be the one that should get the former President to apologise for his years of misrule and to apologise a second time for attempting to extend that misrule with his participation in the 2015 elections. Perhaps Frank ran his own personal errand in the hope of getting a few crumbs to reboot that lifestyle that he lost with Jonathan’s election loss.
But Frank must know that there are limits to the relevance he can get – his confession about fabricating lies against Jonathan is instructive as it is consistent with someone that was never higher than a refuse disposal guy for his party. Such trait as a betrayal explains why Atiku Abubakar, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate never fully sign him up in spite of his vociferous pro-Atiku rants.
It is because sell-outs cannot be trusted, which is why Omoyele Sowore was the one who got the RevolutionNow brief and he has a 45 days free stay in detention even before the court reaches a verdict on whether to jail him. Frank put on the pretext of being smart because even in this his latest pitch for Sowore’s job he was careful to his incitement as “peaceful revolution”, which does not say much because his attempt at engaging in revisionism to mislead Nigerians is simply ineffectual.

Iyiola is a social crusader based in Abuja.

The Despotic Osarodion Ogie, Secretary to Edo State Government, Absolute and Autocratic Leader of APC Ikpoba-Okha LGA.*




In Dr. stella Nyanzi's poem "I Was Already Condemned Before I Came In." And I qoute,

_"I never came to your court seeking for justice. I came to your court to play the game of politics. I refuse to be a mere spectator in the struggle to oust the worst dictator."_

It is time we begin to reveal some truth and salvage our almost mortgaged Local Government Area in Edo South Senatorial District, especially those within the Benin metropolis. Events in APC Ikpoba-okha most especially by the Dictator if not checked puts the the members at risk of been enslaved politically.

He loves to blackmail people and intimidate party members which is obvious in the way and manner he lied and subtly caused wrangling in the political party leadership of Ikpoba-Okha elders council and took over the affairs of the party and likes sadist has remain an Idi Amin.

Persons like Osarodion Ogie with dictatorial tendencies should never at first be given power. A man who joined politics as a rebel against the popular ideas of transformation and contributing to good governance will never feel safe and that reflects in the way and manner he disrespects Elders of the party, dishing out instructions, decisions and orders.



Osarodion Ogie, a man full of Complete Narcissistic Personality disorder with total display of Autocratic Leadership has continue to make unanimous decisions which has led to fallouts within him and all those he has always imposed on the people, which has led to severe of relationships between him and all those he has aided to political prominence.

There continue to be fallout between his suppose followers and complains are already emerging from his present set of stooges, very soon the fallout will be massive. Its is time to remind Mr. Despotic that whatever a man sows he shall reap.

Osarodion Ogie enjoys to see conflicts, hence he is good at masterminding crisis. He is such an individual who thrives on continuing conflict and never seeks peace, evidently in how he has gotten all his political appointments. A sadists forbids forgiveness.

It is time for the people to come together and seek peace, genuine and long lasting developments. Sincere leadership that is in touch with the Grass Root. Not an Osarodion Ogie who gives out peanuts, puts you at war with your brothers and enjoys our common patrimony.

From a Concerned Edo Son, Influenced by hashtag #OperationWhoIsYourLeader.

AI: Protesters vow to commence 40 days civil disobedience over NGOs refusal to leave Nigeria


The Coalition for Civil Rights and Good Governance has threatened to embark on "40 days civil disobedience" over the refusal_of Amnesty International to leave the shores of Nigeria.

The group stated this on the 7th day of its occupy Amnesty International office, Abuja over its alleged connivance with some agents of destabilization to cause unrest in Nigeria.

CCRGG vowed not to give up until the NGO leaves Nigeria.

Addressing newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, Princes Ajibola, President of the group, averred that "If we are pushed to begin the 40 days occupation, our member will make a daily advance of one metre upon the premises of Amnesty International until we enter its reception, workstations, conference room and offices to bodily throw out its staffers and escort them to the airport."

He statement below.

Seven days ago, we took the bold step of standing up for our country by openly confronting the monster that threatens its future in the form of an international non-governmental organization called Amnesty International. We consistently occupied the Amnesty International for the seven-day period irrespective of the intense blackmail and propaganda directed at us by the NGO.

In the course of the seven days, over two million protestors took part in the anti-Amnesty International protests in Lagos and more than one million participated in Abuja under rain, sun and unwarranted brutality from Amnesty International.

The occupation has been illuminating for us because it surfaced a lot of facts and useful information that were hitherto in the realm of conjecture.

For one, we have been able to establish that the conspiracy against the existence of Nigeria is more extensive and elaborate than previously thought. While Amnesty International is the arrowhead of the foreign component of this evil agenda, it has a large network of other NGOs, CSOs and even quasi-business entities that are running errands for it – these are the groups that jointly issued statements to condemn the occupation of Amnesty International’s office. Individuals that are on its payroll equally exposed themselves as such by condemning our action.

The extent of Amnesty International’s infiltration of Nigeria is alarming to a point where it even has the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on a leash like a dog. It launched NHRC like an attack dog against this protest in an act of desperation forgetting that it has exposed the lapses at the Commission in terms of playing its own role of monitoring issues of human rights in Nigeria. We now understand that NHRC deliberately abandoned its duties to create a vacuum for Amnesty International to exploit. Our protest exposed this unholy alliance, which forced NHRC to tediously attempt to disparage our efforts.

Not to be left out are members of the opposition. The people that contracted Amnesty International to run local side shows for them in the course of implementing its internationally hatched destabilization agenda. They owned and tele-guide the proscribed organizations like IMN and IPOB as well as anarchist movements like RevolutionNow and DaysofRage, which have been deployed to cause widespread violence. Even as we occupied its offices, the NGO continued to defend the rights of these groups to destroy Nigeria without being challenged or prevented from doing so. It defended their incitement and call to violence as “freedom of speech”.

For those that ever doubted that Amnesty International is interested in plunging into war, its sponsorship of the fake revolution by the proscribed and anarchist movements against the democratically elected Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari is a final proof that should jolt all patriotic citizens into action. We should be alarmed that upon being found out as a subversive organization, instead of giving up its destabilization agenda, Amnesty International has rather intensified its attack on the Nigerian state while urging that inciting and hate speech should be allowed as “freedom of expression”.

This strategy had served the NGO in other countries that are today in disarray and it is to our collective peril to allow it replicate same successfully in Nigeria.
It is instructive that Amnesty International and its allies have condemned our occupation of its offices while decrying our call for more Nigerians to join the protests against its subversive activities while defending the rights of anarchist movements to do exactly the same thing and even worse against the Nigerian state and its government.

The implication is that the NGO is not willing to accept the treatment it is encouraging its clients to give the federal government. It is clear that this organization knows that the people it is supporting are doing the wrong thing but it is defending them simply because it wants to get at the government and weaken it.

It was discovered that the protests being backed by Amnesty International are a fallback position after its support for Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) did not translate into an ability to penetrate metropolitan cities and carry out attacks against places of interests. An option to use violent protests by IMN and IPOB similarly failed.

But we have also learnt that this NGO has no desire of giving up on its destabilization agenda as it will always plot new schemes to achieve its goals whenever its strategy is defeated.
This is why we have resolved that Amnesty International must leave Nigeria now. We stood up, as a coalition of several groups, to challenge its subversive activities in the last seven days. We expect that this organization will use the benefit of the end of the seven days occupation to slink away at night because criminals are accustomed to making their getaway under the cover of darkness.

But where we discover that the NGO continues to violate the space of Nigeria by remaining in the country after these seven days of occupation, we want to categorically warn that the various groups may be forced to return on Monday, this time for a round 40 of days of occupation.

If we are pushed to begin the 40 days occupation, our member will make a daily advance of one metre upon the premises of Amnesty International until we enter its reception, workstations, conference room and offices to bodily throw out its staffers and escort them to the airport. The 40 days will witness impassioned Nigerians overrunning this Office with their properties to permanently occupy the place until the needful is done.

It is reassuring that more Nigerians have indicate interest to join the occupation that will expel the monster that is threatening Nigeria from the jurisdiction of the country. We salute the patriotism of these people that have indicated commitment to act even before they are called upon just as we salute all Nigerians that have come out in solidarity with this protest. We shall keep everyone up to date on the status of the protest and when the 40 days of occupation will begin.

Finally, we want to put Amnesty International, its allies and supporters on notice that there will be no giving up until it shuts down its operations and leave Nigeria. The worst that can happen is for it to unleash law enforcement agents of thugs on us and we are prepared.

By David Onmeje
 
In Nigeria, the war against insurgency gathered momentum since the inception of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. In some quarters, it was stated that the appointment of Service Chiefs indeed contributed to the way and manner Nigeria was able to confront the Boko Haram Insurgents that occupied several swathes of land in North-East Nigeria and over 16 local government areas in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.
 
It has been stated in numerous forums that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen. Turkur Buratai has led the battle for the soul of Nigeria with the display of an unalloyed commitment to the unity of Nigeria through the introduction of novel ideas in the operations of the Nigerian Army since 2015.
 
The recent is the revelation that 223 officers of the Nigerian Army have so far received training in various military institutions in Bangladesh under the Nigeria/Bangladesh military partnership.  
 
It would be recalled that sometime in 2017, the Bangladesh Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Hug was in Nigeria where he met with key government officials to discuss bilateral issues relating to strengthening the relationship between the Armed Forces of Nigeria and Bangladesh. He stated that “Nigeria sends many officers to train in Bangladesh in different training institutions like the National Defence College and Defence Chief of Staff College all in Bangladesh.”
 
This strategic partnership has seen to the training of over 223 military officers from the Nigerian Army from the over 30 military training institutions in Bangladesh. This much was corroborated by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, who himself at some point in his military career attended a National Defence Course from the National Defence University in Bangladesh.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai has stated that the training he received from the National Defence University in Bangladesh equipped him better for the fight against terrorism in Nigeria. “My sojourn in Nepal during the period exposed me to how efforts of the Bangladesh Defence forces combined to defeat the insurgents and criminals of the Chittagong Hills.”

It can be stated that the impact of the strategic military partnership between Nigeria and Bangladesh has yielded multiple gains for Nigeria, especially in the war against terrorism. This is on the heels that the lessons learned from the Bangladesh experience in dealing with insurgency have been valuable in Nigeria. Moreover, coupled with the fact that Bangladesh and Nigeria are strong military contributors to United Nations Peacekeeping operations and both countries seek for and work for peace and stability in the international community.
 
The Nigerian Army has indeed fared well concerning the fight against insurgency with the level of training its personnel have been subjected to. The training received by officers of the Nigerian Army in Bangladesh is an indication of the leadership style of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai that is harped on dynamism especially in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria.
 
According to Prof Stephen Bature of the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, he opined that the strategic Military partnership between Nigerian and Bangladesh has yielded positives in the sense that the training the Nigerian Army has received from the military institutions in Bangladesh have been somewhat brought to bear in the fight against insurgency in Northeast Nigeria.   
 
The Chief of Army Staff stated this much when he received the High Commissioner of Bangladesh, Mr. Mohammad Shammeen Ashan during a courtesy visit at Army headquarters, He said that lessons he learned from Bangladesh as a student of the National Defence University in the art of counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism warfare contributed to the massive decapitation of Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorist in the North-East by the Nigerian Army.
 
As simple as the above might sound, it must be noted that when military units participate in bilateral exercises with other countries, the interaction increases interoperability between the militaries, provides for cultural exchange and understanding, and offers an opportunity to expand each nation’s capabilities while exercising potential contingencies.
 
This is what the Nigeria/Bangladesh military partnership has brought to the table for Nigeria and it must to noted that the foresight displayed by the Chief of Army Staff, in seeing to the sustainability of the military pact with Bangladesh must be commended.
 
In an interactive session by Defence Correspondents in North-East Nigeria, it was stated that the strategies employed by the Nigerian Army in recent times have been quite alien to the Boko Haram/ISWAP fighters who have continued to suffer heavy casualties and retreating to the fringes around the Lake Chad Basin region.
 
“The operational strategy of the Nigerian Army in Northeast Nigeria is a blend exposure and the willingness to confront the Boko Haram/ISWAP fighters headlong and this has paid off handsomely as it has been stated in numerous forums that the Nigerian Army under the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai had made tremendous inroads in North-East Nigeria and other parts of Nigeria.”

It can be this stated that these are some of the positives from the strategic military partnership between Nigeria and Bangladesh are evident in the setback experienced by Boko Haram/ISWAP whose ranks have been highly decimated. Thus it has been put forward that the tipping point between muddling through and moving toward victory in Nigeria was the election of leaders who translated bold vision into action since the beginning of Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in 2015. Consequently, Nigeria has been able to transform its Army from an ineffective, garrison-bound band into an aggressive force that has crippled Boko Haram/ISWAP and other militant organization in the country.

The credit must go to the leadership of the Nigerian Army whose operational policies in ways too numerous to mention have brought about the much-needed bite in the fight against the Boko Haram insurgency. The Chief of Army Staff admitted that what he learned from his study in Bangladesh indeed prepared him for the task ahead. This is indeed a welcome development, especially with the fact that he has been able to avail officers of the Nigerian Army that opportunity to benefit from the same training he received.
The number 223 might not sound like a big deal, but the implication is that these officers would in turn pass on knowledge to their various units and the consequent multiplier effect and boost on the morale of the troops in the battlefront.

Nigeria has indeed made substantial inroads in the fight against terrorism in the past four years, and this had been made possible through a combination of factors. Also, one of them is the strategic military partnership between Nigeria and Bangladesh. While Nigeria continues to bask in this partnership, it must be stated that the leadership style of the Chief of Army Staff came out glaring.

Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai is worthy of emulation by all and sundry who recently disclosed that the Nigerian Army would continue to explore the available opportunity for further training of its officers and soldiers in the areas of tactics, staff duties, and intelligence among others.
This is indeed a welcome development and an indication that Nigeria needs more of such partnership in the future.


Onmeje wrote this piece from London, United Kingdom.

By Adekunle Adeniyi

"You never change things by fighting existing reality.To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete" --Buckminster Fuller, activist, change campaigner."
I least expected that Monday August 5, 2019 would eclipse this quietly. The anxiety and phobia of the citizenry heightened at dawn as they patiently waited to catch a glimpse of "revolutionalists" protests in Nigeria.
The feeble voices of a revolution in Nigeria, backed by it's "lone" initiator/convener, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, best described as a pseudo activist, whether of human rights; democratic rights or street protests rights infiltrated and punctured the serenity of sacred fiefdoms around Nigeria.
His masters and apostates waited patiently and quietly in the wings until the Federal Government arrested Sowore at his Lagos home to explain the concept and the action of the #RevolutionNow match. Sowore didn't tag it #ProtestNowMatch. It's the former!

Had Sowore branded it with the latter identity, the Federal Government would not have been bothered nor anybody else. But Sowore lucidly said, with much gusto that it is time for "Revolution in Nigeria now!" A lot of Nigerians didn't know Sowore had a lot of veiled biological kinsmen and godfathers. He is of the Ijaw ethnic/Yoruba race and the Southwest in Nigeria is famed for "radical" intellectual agitations. But Sowore was misguided and so, he got this one religiously wrong! The DSS harmlessly hit him below the belt and he screamed uproariously. So, the revolutionary campaigner looked back and sighted his back-up force in kinsmen willing to be dragged into the game. They instantly conscripted into Sowore's army of emergency revolutionalists, not necessarily for the sake of Nigeria, but to intimidate and frighten the Presidency into releasing a suspect of treasonable felony in the hands of the DSS.

There is nothing strange that Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka; human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana and some Afenifere ( Yoruba socio-cultural sect) cultural organisations had to be reminded and prodded to speak out in order to save Sowore from the hands of Nigeria’s secret police.

And so, intellectuals met in palaces and gardens in the Southwest and endorsed a vocal campaign to free Sowore. Most of them were prodded into the matter since its an action they could not vouch about how it started.
And they decided to rejig Sowore's original concept in ideology and nomenclature to get public appeal. Nigerians were now served with a modified suffix with tag #RevolutionNow-Protests? It replaced Sowore's #RevolutionNow match. Linguists might know the difference better. But at least, it raised a platform for these activists and rights crusaders to ventilate feelings, anger and personal grudges against the Government or in consonance with the feelings of their paymasters.

But of all the personalities clamoring for the release of Sowore; citing very clumsy excuses is Prof. Soyinka, who has sounded most hollow. Prof. Soyinka bellowed; "Nothing that he (Sowore) said to me in private engagement ever remotely approached intent to destabilise governance or bypass the normal democratic means of changing a government. I, therefore, find the reasons given by the Inspector-General of Police for the arrest and detention of this young ex-presidential candidate totally contrived and untenable, unsupported by any shred of evidence. His arrest is a travesty and violation of the fundamental rights of citizens to congregate and make public their concerns."

With due respect to Soyinka, but it appears he is surreptitiously attempting to usurp the powers of Mr. President as the Chief Security Officer of Nigeria. To put it mildly, he unconvincingly interpreted the mindset of a sensational parrot like Sowore. Although, as a man conversant with the law, Femi Falana was a bit circumspect, but he ended up committing the same blunders very tacitly through hesitant or antagonistic comparism thus;

"The intention of the organisers of the rallies is to protest the worsening security situation in the country, demand payment of N30,000 minimum wage to workers and job creation for our army of unemployed youths e.t.c. cannot by any stretch of imagination be said to constitute terrorism or treason in any material particular." And sounding somewhat childish, trivial or unlike the famed lawyer he is known, but bereft of ideas, Falana faintly said; "No doubt, the Nigeria Police Force has capitalised on the use of the word “revolution” to criminalise the protests. If revolution has become a criminal offence in Nigeria why were the leaders of the APC not charged for claiming to have carried out Nigeria’s democratic revolution which terminated the 16-year rule of the PDP in 2015?"

All what these two vocal voices in Nigeria attempted to do was to exculpate Sowore in diction and the planned action. None bothered to deeply excavate the matter. All that was convenient indicated a vague defence of democratic and fundamental human rights, even in the glaring instance, plotting and mobilising Nigerians to violently overthrow a legitimate Government by fronting the fluid reasons as partly recounted by a learned lawyer like Falana. Both fruitlessly attempted to justify Buhari's call for a "ballot revolution" in 2011 as synonymous with Sowore's #RevolutionNow. But the exhumed and replayed narratives yawned too far from the current reality and they found nothing to tether their perforated standpoints.

Shamefully though, scanty traces of the so-called #RevolutionNow protests to discredit President Muhammadu Buhari and declare him an unpopular leader were noticed only in Lagos and Abuja at obscure locations of these two mega cities in Nigeria. Nigeria did not explode again; those who wanted to torch it, found no thatched hut for the arson; the rainbow supernatural divinators could not stop the August rain. And the paid conspirators and vocalists had no audience to address. President Buhari triumphed again and against enemies of Nigeria.

It is what happens when the people annoint the right leadership; the same people trooped out to defend it. It was Rivers State Gov. Nyesom Wike who first voiced the rejection of #RevolutionNow, symbolic of South-South Nigeria. He was vehement and stern.

About four coalition of pro-Biafran groups led by the administrative secretary, Mr. Emeka Ibekwe clearly banned any form of manifestation of #RevolutionNow anywhere in the Southeast. The #IStandWithBuhari countered it, beginning from the North spanning all over Nigeria. Nigerians’ rejection of a personalized revolution, poorly scripted and backed by some foreign interests to break Nigeria into shreds has clearly shown that President Buhari has again reaffirmed himself as the choice of the masses of this nation. Information in public domain suggests that over 500 million dollars were budgeted for the breakdown of Nigeria.

But the Nigerian people have massively shunned their monetary inducements in preference for the unity and peaceful co-existence of the country as superior to any other interest or mouth-watering gratification. Africa must learn from Nigeria, the strength in the diversity of this nation. Like Prof. PLO Lumumba has always emphasized, Africa has always managed her diversities perfectly and Nigeria has replicated yet another example by shunning a #RevolutionNow to support Buhari, a populist leader.

The conveners and proponents have missed a golden chance to strike. Had this happened during the Jonathan Presidency, the protesters would have been enabled by angry masses to sack leaders right from the executive to the National Assembly.
And the reason is very simple. They were all working together to loot the country at the same time and very competitively. In fairness to their era, the President was looting; the Senate President was looting and virtually all the State Governors were looting the people so mindlessly..

But today, Nigerians have a Government which is truely for the Nigerian people in Buhari. He was voted to clean the Augean Stable; he is doing his job perfectly to the angst of the perpetual power monks. Buhari is fighting corruption;
re-organizing the military; retraining and equipping Nigerian troops. Except those obsessed with sycophantic bliss, the evidence is palpable even to the blind.

President Buhari's militray cheifs have a sophistry and dexterity never before known in the last 15 years in Nigeria and today, they are inculcating discipline, loyalty and patriotism in the rank and file. It is manifest in their unyielding spirit in fighting insecurity and making the country safer for the citizenry.

These are the lessons Africa must learn from an incorruptible leader like President Buhari. Africa must wake up to the reality that when a leader fights insecurity and corruption for the citizens, it becomes a revolution in itself against revolutions. And no foreign backed force can dethrone him or bring down the government.

So, perverse souls like Sowore and his comrades, home and abroad must learn the hard facts of Jim Morrison in this wit; “The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first.”


Adeniyi is a pro-democracy activist based in Ogbomosho.

By Benjamin Angwe
 
I am constrained to lend my voice to the ongoing debate on the activities of Amnesty International in Nigeria. I must add that penning this article is borne out of genuine desire to see that the Nigeria of our dreams is manifest and without any form of distraction.
 
Amnesty International is not an organization any serious government should tolerate. Amnesty International is also not an organization, a well-meaning individual should identify with because, from all indications, their position as a human rights organization is questionable and filled with a high level of deceit.  
 
I say the above with all sense of humility and patriotism with the quantum of information at my disposal on the real intent of Amnesty International in Nigeria. I would state in unambiguous terms that if urgent steps are not taken against the operations of Amnesty International in Nigeria, we would all have ourselves to blame in the long run.
 
In my years of research, I have never come across an organization that is filled with intense politicking and deceit. I have also not come across any organization that would be so daring to take up a challenge to cause the disintegration of a country with so much impunity in return for monetary gains, and not minding whose ox is gored.
 
This is the story of Amnesty International in Nigeria, and I am pained beyond words how we have allowed ourselves to be so fooled over the years by Amnesty International as an organization advocating for the respect for human rights. This is the height of deceit and somewhat a failure on the part of previous administrations in Nigeria. But as the saying goes, nothing is hidden under the sun forever. The truth must always come out.
 
So the bitter pill we have to swallow is the realization that Amnesty International is out to destroy Nigeria by all means necessary and possible. Though hard a pill to swallow, it's already in our mouth, and we are left with just two choices; swallow or spit out. Also, I would guess that the only option we have as a people is to spit out and rinse our mouth thoroughly.
 
Nigeria, as it stands, cannot afford any form of terrorism because we have had a fair share of it in big doses. We must admit that the impact of terrorism is still being felt in the country despite the substantial gains we have made in recent times. This was so because past administrations refused to act when necessary. They politicized the threats confronting the country and thought manna was going to fall from heaven.  
 
But again, I would say that we are quite lucky to be able to identify the emergence of a corporate terror group in Amnesty International whose paymasters are those vested interest that does not see anything good in our country and are quite sad that we are making progress despite the multitude of challenges confronting us.
 
How we have managed to pull through remains a mystery and an indication that God truly loves Nigeria. However, should the relevant authorities relent? The answer is a huge no. This is especially with the fact that this present administration swore to protect the Constitution of Nigeria as well as its people from foreign interest who do not means well for the country.
 
This much, I can say has been done, but there is still a lot more that has to be done in the quest to ensure that Nigeria does not in any way succumb to the whims and caprices of those vested interest that wish for our disintegration.
 
I believe that the first step to solving any problem is realizing that there is a problem and identifying it. Also, now that it has been established that Amnesty International is acting a dubious script against Nigeria, the relevant authorities must come all out and act. The facts are clear, and the motive has come in the open that threat posed by Amnesty International to the unity of Nigeria is real.
 
The fact is also clear that Amnesty International is working in cahoots with some external sources towards disintegrating Nigeria in the form of corporate terrorism.  At this point, we do not need a soothsayer to tell us what to do because if we don't act, then we would have ourselves to blame.
 
Amnesty International must leave Nigeria in the interest of peace and progress. They are now a corporate warehouse for the entrenchment of terrorism in Nigeria. As mindboggling as this sounds, it is the stark reality confronting us as a people. In my opinion, the only difference between Amnesty International and the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) is their modus operandi. While one is overt, the other is covert, and if we must be sincere, the covert is more dangerous than the overt for self-evident reasons.
 
I won't mince words in this regard for the expulsion of Amnesty International from Nigeria because the land must heal completely. Any government still tolerating Amnesty International can as well grant amnesty to Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorist because there is no difference between a militant terror group and a corporate terror group.
 
The Nigerian government must act and see to the expulsion of Amnesty International from Nigeria in the interest of the over 200 million Nigerians whose lives are threatened daily by the activities of Amnesty International.
 
That we are lucky to have realized on time the nefarious plot of Amnesty International in Nigeria is a plus, however, it would be a minus if the appropriate steps are not taken towards nipping the threat posed by Amnesty International in the mud. Nigeria must heal. A word is enough for the wise.

Angwe is a human rights activist based in Lagos.

Investigations by the TheNigerian has revealed that leader of the RevolutionNow Movement, Omoyele Sowore, intentionally baited the Department of State Services (DSS) in order to be taken into custody both as a safety measure and a face saving move.

If confirmed, it will imply that Sowore, who is the publisher of Sahara Reporters, a news blog, sought refuge with the DSS as an alternative to being arrested in the actual course of the protest or being harassed to refund money by those that financed the protests from abroad.

The secret police, DSS, arrested Sowore on Saturday on allegations that he was calling for a revolution to forcefully overthrow a democratically elected government. He went on to say that the secret police will be history by Tuesday when the protests tagged “Days of Rage” have bundled the elected government out office. He could be tried for treasonable felony.

While Sowore's arrest has triggered criticism from those sympathetic with his cause, a source close to him has revealed that he deliberately antagonised authorities so that he can save face, evade sponsors and also escape the danger of being attacked by his supporters if he called off the protest.

The source who craved anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue revealed that “Yele (Sowore) had seen these protests as face saving given the disappointing choice Nigerians made during the election by rejecting him. But it soon became clear that the protests were going to be more disappointing than the election result because even the 33,000 people that voted for him in the election won’t turn up to protest.
“There was no way to back out without losing face. Those that bankrolled the protests will have questions. It was becoming dangerous because he could be attacked,” he explained.

According to him, Sowore struck on the idea to get taken into custody and possibly arraigned knowing that such development will raise his profile as an activist while diverting attention from the failure of the protests while his absence will be justified by the arrest.

The protests largely failed on Monday as the police prevented those that have gathered from carrying out their threat of raging through the streets in Lagos. The police had said it is illegal to use a revolution to overthrow a democratic government. Inclement weather put paid to the prospect of protests in Abuja as a prolonged downpour made it impractical to gather on the streets.

Sowore remained in custody on Monday and it is unclear when he would be formally charged or arraigned in court for the treasonable felony the DSS has accused him of.

Other members of his inner cycle have not commented on whether he deliberately sought refuge with the secret police and thereby sabotaging the protests.

Sowore has a history of run-in with law enforcement agencies having been held recently on allegations of threat to life after an open brawl with another blogger over financial largess from political patrons.

Expel Amnesty International before we put on our rage, CSOs tell President Buhari over foreign interest to destabilize Nigeria


The Concerned Citizens’ Conference on Monday marked the 4th day of its total occupation of Amnesty International Office in Abuja to demand its expulsion of the from Nigeria.

The CSOs vowed not to stop until the international organization leaves the country.

According to the group, some foreign agencies were plotting to destabilize the country.

Danelsi Momoh, National Secretary, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, saod Amnesty International took it upon itself to be the face of some agents of destabilization at it has continually issued statements and tweeted support for the organizers of #RevolutionNow Movement.

He called on President Buhari to expel Amnesty International NOW or they would be forced to turn our rage against the NGO.

His speech below.

Dear compatriots, in recent days Nigeria has been confronted with a new brand of terrorism that is being packaged as activism. This cover of activism has been stretched to bestow a toga of respectability to terrorist organizations like the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN); we believe that Boko Haram elements, bandits and killer herdsmen are part of the protests being planned by this alliance or rebranded terrorists working with a bitter opposition.

Amnesty International took it upon itself to be the face of these terrorists. It has continually issued statements and tweeted support for the organizers of #RevolutionNow Movement even when it is apparent that their protest is an amalgam of organizations that have been properly proscribed as terrorist organizations or members of the opposition.

Since we began this protest to occupy Amnesty International’s office here in Abuja, we have taken time to investigate the social media handles of the officials of the NGO. We did this following the belligerent way they insisted on staying back so that they can complete their evil plot in Nigeria. What we discovered in the private social media handles of Amnesty international’s staffers is troubling and worrisome – their account showed individuals whose personal views are jaundiced to the point that they are openly anti-Buhari and counter-Nigeria.

We saw on their walls posts that were cynical of every move the government makes and even the seemingly objective ones of their posts were laden with innuendoes that are derisive of the country and its government. How then can such people or the organization they represent pretend at being neutral or objective?

It is equally ironic that Amnesty International is vocally supportive of protests that are branded and promoted as ‘Days f Rage’ to challenge hallucinatory bad government by people with criminal and terrorist backgrounds but the same NGO dismissed our protest at its office for meddlesomeness in Nigeria’s affairs as government sponsored. This clearly exposes the double standard that has always been the hallmark of an organization that brags about being interested in human rights adherence. By the same token that its clients can occupy the streets in violent and murderous protests we, as Nigerians, have the right to be present here as expression of our grievances against the injury being caused to our country.

Let us not lose sight of the facts of events up until this moment. One of Amnesty International’s clients, one Omoyele Sowore, who scored a few thousands votes as a presidential candidate in the last elections, openly called for Nigerians to join the protests with inciting comments like “except Nigerians bond together and bundle these guys out of our national space we are wasting our time” and “August 5 we are shutting down Nigeria” in apparent reference to forcefully overthrowing a democratically elected government. These threats and others that included destruction of some security organizations are the what Amnesty International is describing as “freedom of expression”. Sadly, some otherwise highly respected individuals have been parroting the NGO’s twisted position because they erroneously believe it is objective as per its international branding.

We have our fears. If this is the definition of freedom of expression it is a matter of time before some people start calling for the assassination of the opposition figure and some fanatics will carry out the act in an even shorter span of time. When this happens the likes of Amnesty International will accuse the government of carrying out the attacks. The risk of such accusation pales in significance when compared to the danger of Nigeria going up in a conflagration, which is consistent with what this so called international organization has always wanted.
On this fourth day of our occupation of Amnesty International’s offices in Abuja. We want to call attention to four things:

1. Amnesty International has track record of lying dating back to when it used a rehearsed actress as a witness to justify lies that Iraqi troops where throwing neonates out of incubators in Kuwait. It never walked back that lie. Such questionable means of gathering evidence is responsible for the growing suicide rate among its staff.

2. Amnesty International is complicit in the affairs of countries that have failed or presently in turmoil today. An organization that can facilitate the ongoing pogrom in Yemen and still be resolute in creating new failed states should not be welcome in any self loving nation on earth.

3. The financiers of Amnesty International are questionable individuals and organizations. The list include weapon manufacturers that are eager to have new wars and the resultant clients as well as opposition figures that are desperate to gain power through transition, interim or government of national unity as is the case of Atiku Abubakar and Omoyele Sowore in Nigeria.

4. There have been countries that successfully expelled Amnesty International from their jurisdiction in the past. The reason for the expulsions is no different from the crime Amnesty International has been committing in Nigeria. Morocco once expelled the organization while Israel has expelled its affiliates.
These for us are enough reasons not to have this monster in our country. Its output can only be pure evil and the longer it stays among us the more malevolent its evil will be.

Since we have passed the half mark in the deadline we gave Amnesty International to leave our country or be thrown out, we are directing our attention to the government because we believe it can send this organization out of Nigeria without waiting for us to unleash our own version of Day of Rage against the dubious organization. We are as a result using today’s protest to call on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to do the needful now.

We have in the preceding three days defied the element – rain and the sun – to hold this protests against the evil taking up quarters in Nigeria. We are ready to sacrifice even more to defend the interest of Nigeria at all times and we will never stop to bring to the notice of authorities those that do not mean well for Nigeria.

Our law enforcement agencies must rise to the occasion. It is not enough to arrest insurrectionists, it is important to trace their connections to the other variables in the plot to destabilize Nigeria. They must therefore investigate financial and communications connections between the RevolutionNow leaders and Amnesty International with a view to prosecuting and jailing any of its staffers that are directly involved in the plot to overthrow the government. This should extend to investigating the funding of Amnesty International and how they spend their money to ascertain the various clandestine operations they run against the county..

We conclude our outing today by demanding that Mr. President appreciate the imperative of not sitting on the fence whilst corporate terrorists destroy the fabrics of our unity and peaceful co-existence. Amnesty International officials in Nigeria have an agenda to overthrow his democratically elected government in the country and it is a plot that is now at an advanced stage given the boldness with which its executioners now take to the streets to implement their plan.

All the recent activities of Amnesty International is to force the government into inaction so that the coup plotters can carry on undeterred. This has to stop.

Mr. President, you must expel Amnesty International NOW or we will be forced to turn our rage against the NGO.

Source: http://authorityngr.com/2019/08/05/expel-amnesty-international-before-we-put-on-our-rage-csos-tell-president-buhari-over-foreign-interest-to-destabilize-nigeria/

HOUSING FOR WORKERS IS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT IN THE WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION – CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK


The Civil Society Network for Good Governance has called on the Federal Government to sustain the gains made during the first term of president Muhammadu Buhari. The president and members of his executive spoke to newsmen at a Press Conference, held in Abuja following their Extraordinary General Congress, touched on the state of the housing sector vis a vis the strides made in the war against corruption.
In the words of the President of the organization, Barr Adefila Kamal, “housing is a major need of man, alongside food and clothing, and one of the key motivating factors of people who become corrupt in public service and private business is the quest to have this need met”.
Speaking on their assessment of the state of the sector, Barr. Kamal informed the media that the Network had “followed, with keen interest, the comprehensive reforms carried out in the housing sector under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. We note that, for the first time in the history of this country, there has been a silent revolution in the sector, as the government has revamped the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). The government has also created the Federal Integrated Housing Scheme (FISH) to complement the good work of the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board, which is a specialist organization created to cater to the housing needs of public servants”.
He went further to argue that “as a government that is dedicated to rooting out corruption from our national psyche, providing affordable and qualitative housing for civil servants remains key to winning the war against corruption, and the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board had been doing its level best in that regard”. While noting that the board had received meagre funding, Barr. Kamal noted that his organization had carried out independent assessment of the board and other agencies in the sector, “and found that the board had in the last four years given loans to more civil servants, while the home renovation loan in collaboration with the FMBN is helping many civil servants to renovate their homes expanding the scope of beneficiaries “.

By Karen Goulding

A lot has been said about the activities of Amnesty International in Nigeria. I recall a certain period where there were agitations for the AI to be expelled from Nigeria due to the questionable way and manner it has carried on as regards the war against insurgency in North-East Nigeria and other human rights-related issues.

I struggled to come to terms with the expulsion demands because I am not one that goes with the crowd in most instances. I like to be objective in my analysis of events and situations to be able to put issues in proper perspective rather than dwell on assumptions which in most cases are not a reflection of the reality on the ground.

Consequently, I devoted a substantial part of my time to research extensively on Amnesty International, not just in Nigeria, but other countries where it is active and I must add that the revelations were mind-boggling. Mind-boggling in the sense that I was confronted with an organization whose modus operandi is shrouded in secrecy and questionable motives.

My verdict is this. Amnesty International as an organization is fraught with irregularities and motives propelled by pecuniary gains. Thiers is such that you need to have an eagle eye to be able to see through the veil covering the activities of Amnesty International. Upon realization of this fact, I now reckoned that indeed there was some element of truth in the allegations the organization is working in cahoots with some vested interest in ensuring Nigeria is continuously on the limelight for the wrong reasons.

For me, there are two issues that I would like to comment on. One is the fact that it took the government of Nigeria a while to understand the motives of the organization and two is the fact that the government of Nigeria has not been assertive enough in confronting the half-truths peddled by Amnesty International in its yearly reports.

This is indeed a shame that as a people, we have allowed Amnesty International to get away with their dubious trade unabated in the past years. I am also appalled with the fact that those saddled with the responsibility of gathering sensitive information on threats to the sovereignty of Nigeria either by commission or omission refused to act despite glaring pieces of evidence of wrongdoings.

I can make an excuse. However, it is beyond me, but the future of over 200 million Nigerians who have nowhere to call home other than Nigeria. It further insults our sensibilities that we have an organization like Amnesty International serving as a collaborator in the covert plot to cause the disintegration of Nigeria. If this is not a failure, I don’t know what else to call it.

However, I am consoled with the fact that the relevant authorities in Nigeria are now alive to their responsibility and taking steps towards putting Amnesty International in check. Also, this has been quite unpalatable for them because it is no longer business as usual. They have cried wolf where non exist. They have also made unsubstantiated allegations all in a bid to curry public sympathy. But to no avail.

I must add that the past four years has been indeed traumatic for Nigeria due to the half-truths contained in the yearly reports of Amnesty International. One of the revelations of my study of the activities of Amnesty International is the fact that its annual reports are laced with illogical conclusions and outright insinuations. And guess what? It has been garbage in and garbage out with no meaningful improvement in its style. What they do mostly is to move words and sentences year in, year out.

And this is the thrash that Nigerians have continuously been fed with under the guise of human rights watchdog. My consolation is that fact that everything that has a beginning also has an end and I dare say that the end has come for Amnesty International and its cohorts in Nigeria. I am not sure they can sustain their trade anymore in Nigeria due to the level of awareness of their activities in recent times.

The era of half-truths has been replaced. The period of playing with the intelligence of Nigerians is also gone, and the period of peaceful departure is here before us. This fact they must come to terms with and take the honourable path of quitting Nigeria because their continued stay in Nigeria would serve no purpose for them and their paymasters.

At this point, I wholly commend the relevant authorities in Nigeria for tolerating the mischief of Amnesty International in the past years. That there has not been any restive situation is indeed a testament to the patience and diplomatic nature of the relevant authorities in Nigeria. And I dare to say that were it to be in other climes; the story would have been different.

Amnesty International must respect Nigeria and Nigerians and as a matter of urgency put an end to their misdemeanour in the interest of peace. Nigeria is a sovereign nation, and its people are more than resolute in ensuring that the country stays united. I am quite convinced that no amount of blackmail and conspiracy can break the Nigerian spirit as it stands.

My position is a piece of advice that must be taken seriously by the promoters of Amnesty International. Nigeria is not their market. And it would never be for self-evident reasons.

Goulding wrote this piece from the United Kingdom.

CIVIL SOCIETY GROUP MEETS AND EXPRESSES DISPLEASURE OVER POOR QUALITY OF SERVICES FROM THE FEDERAL MEDICAL CENTER, YENAGOA
The Civil Society Advocacy for Transparency, a Civil Society Group has expressed its displeasure with the quality of services being rendered in the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Yenagoa under the Leadership of Dr. Dennis Allagoa the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja following an emergency congress meeting of the group, the National Coordinator of the Group, Comrade Joshua Oluwatobi Ademola, disclosed that his group “had been receiving reports of poor quality of service from the Hospital, under the leadership of Dr. Dennis Allagoa as CMD, as the supposed Medical center of Excellence has become a shadow of the aim for which it was established in the first place”.
Speaking further, the Coordinator said “the federal government has continued to put in heavy doses of its scarce resources into the running of the hospital, and the procurement of needed equipment, which have ended up in coffers other than that of the hospital. This has led to several avoidable deaths of poor Nigerians, including most recently a high ranking member of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), while also swelling the ranks of foreign medical tourists among the elite who can afford it”.
Comrade Ademola disclosed that, “the Civil Society Advocacy for Transparency will be taking further action against the FMC Yenagoa, beyond this national press briefing, which will include a petition to the appropriate quarters, including the Presidency, the Ministry of Health, National Assembly and the anti-graft agencies, calling for the investigation and prosecution of Dr. Allagoa and his management team. Our Group will go further to embark on peaceful public protests against the maladministration of the Federal Medical Center, Yenagoa, and the disservice being done to the good people of Nigeria and the suffering people of Bayelsa and neighbouring Niger Delta states by this supposed center of excellence”.

The Arewa Coalition for Peace and Unity (ACPU) has chastised socio-cultural groups Ohaneze Ndi’Igbo and Afenifere for demonizing the blood of innocent citizens killed by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) with its latest gimmick.

Both groups, previously known for their stern intolerance of the radical Islamic sect, suddenly turned sympathizers following the designation as a terrorist group.

In separate statements, the Afenifere and Ohanaeze attempted to discredit the proscription despite obvious havoc, describing it as "unlawful”, implying that they may have soft spot for other terrorist groups like Boko Haram.

An Igbo group even went a step further to demonstrate.

In the video that went viral, they were heard chanting how they will shed their blood and lay down their lives for IMN leader, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

In a press conference delivered by President Dr. Usman Ikani on Tuesday in Kaduna, the Arewa group, however, warned there bodies to desist from mocking the north’s experience in the hands of Boko Haram with their destructive activities or ultimately face the consequences.

The ACPU further urged the security agencies to rise to the occasion, arrest and prosecute those giving cover for terrorists to operate on the streets in accordance with the law.

Read full statement below:

Gentlemen of the press, we are outraged after witnessing a disrespectful show put up by socio-cultural groups, Ohaneze Ndi Igbo and Afenifere, both of which demonstrated total insensitivity to the security situation in the north by fusing with the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).

Right thinking persons would have expected that any organization that engaged in such despicable act would hide their faces in shame, but perhaps driven by lack of awareness about the gravity of what they have done, went ahead to publicise video and multimedia of their indiscretion. The video they shared had them chanting about how they will shed their blood and lay down their lives for IMN leader, Sheik Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

Such choice of words removed all doubts that rather than acting in solidarity or sympathy, the Afenifere and Ohaneze members that joined the so called protest are closet terrorists who could no longer resist the urge to join IMN's bloodletting spree that made the Federal Government of Nigeria to declare it a terrorist organization.

When a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the proscription of IMN, it made it clear that its members are not to hide under any other name or another identity to carry out the activities that have been proscribed by the court. The lie that it was Ohaneze and Afenifere that were protesting have been exposed because known IMN members were among the protesters whole the inciting and hate speeches read during the protest came right out of IMN manuals.

These actions are highly provocative. They are insensitive. The action of the Afenifere and Ohaneze is a direct mockery of the north’s experience in the hands of Boko Haram. They have concluded that IMN is a northern plague that can only affect the north so they believe in helping a terrorist organization to gain ground for reasons we are yet to fathom.

Additionally, recent statements and utterances by these groups from the south to embolden the IMN have so far confirmed the identity of the killers across the country. They had been hiding in the shadows while IMN did the killing but we now the identity of the organizations involved. It is a matter of time before the identities of specific individuals are knowns.

If IMN were operating in the south west and south east both organizations would have had a different thought and call on the world to deal with it as a terrorist group. To therefore give the group backing at a time Nigeria is healing from Boko Haram Terrorism is insulting to the extent that it appears as if they are wishing death to the people of the north. So these organizations hate us this much in the north?

We do not pray for any region to witness what the north has gone through in the hands of Boko Haram and we will not pray for the south to witness the uprising of any terrorist group in the future, including the terrorist IMN. Why then are Ohaneze and Afenifere wishing IMN's terrorism on us?

For those that have converted themselves into children of anger and have allowed the hatred of President Muhammadu Buhari to corrode their conscience and blind them to reason, we beg them that their hatred for the Buhari presidency should not drive them to the extent where they promote acts of terrorism in the country by blindly support the evil that El- Zakzakky group has unleashed on the north for many years now.

We also want to ask compatriots that have allowed themselves to be misled if it is acceptable in Igboland or Yorubaland to kill people, kill police, kill journalists and innocent bystanders.Has the human blood being shed by IMN in the north become a glorious venture that the Igbos or Yorubas would want to invest in?

We see this desecration of humanity for what it is. It is not the conspiracy of the Igbo or Yoruba as a people but rather the manifestation of a few irrelevant opportunists that want to profit from terrorists without looking at the larger ramifications for their ethnic groups, the victims of IMN terrorism, the country and the world at large.

Arewa Action for Peace hereby demands that all these contractors that are rubbishing their ethnic identities should stop their destructive activities forthwith or our youths will be compelled to take legitimate actions in pursuit of saving our beloved north from the ascendancy of another terrorist group. These characters are welcome to offer refuge to IMN terrorists provided they will not come crying to the north when their guests start showing their true colour as murderous arsonists.

We in the north have never supported kidnappings in the south but out of hate these guys are mocking the north knowing well that IMN is a terror Group.

We urge the security agencies to note that the court order proscribing IMN as a terrorist organization is being systematically circumvented by Ohaneze and Afenifere with all the security risk posed to the country. We demand that those that are giving cover for terrorists to operate on our streets in the north be promptly arrested and prosecuted in accordance with the law. This is expedient to put a stop to a situation where a group that has been designated a terrorist organization easily mutates into another identity.

Stand Up for Nigeria, a civil society group has fingered the Islamic Movement in Nigeria behind the planned protest across the country in August by Coalition for Revolution (CORE).

The group said IMN was only using CORE to cause panic among Nigerians following its proscription by the Nigerian Government.

Comrade Sunday Attah, National Secretary, while addressing newsmen on Monday, informed the law enforcement agencies that the planned protest was a ploy to evade the designation of the former as terrorist organization and to enable terrorists to continue gathering freely on the streets.

His statement below.

Gentlemen of the press, recent weeks had seen extremists and radical militants take over the streets of Abuja under the aegis of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), which was supposedly demanding the release of their leader, Ibrahim el-Zakyzaky. It must be noted that el-Zakyzaky is on trial for murder, treason and ancillary crimes before a Kaduna State High Court.

The state does not have control of the police and other security agencies so it is logical that while the IMN leader has a case to answer with Kaduna state, he can only be kept in the custody of federal agencies, which is not the same as the Federal Government or the government of President Muhammadu Buhari holding him.

The implication of this is that the violent protests held on the streets of Abuja, and later other Nigerian cities, have nothing to do with the detention of el-Zakyzaky. The protests rather have all the signatures of a terrorism enterprise that is intended to cow the Nigerian state and subjugate all citizens to the reign of IMN, which so happens to be a proxy for Iran.

The measured responses from the Nigerian Police Force and other security organizations, even in the face of aggravated provocations by IMN members, are well documented. Its members often throw projectiles at policemen and in some instances used slingshots to inflict grievous injuries on those whose responsibility it was to prevent the arson that the IMN protestors are intent on committing and also prevent them from manhandling Nigerians.

A side note of use is the reminder that IMN does not believe in the Nigerian state. For every ministry of government that exists it has a corresponding department, which confirms that it is running a parallel country to the one we all know. It also does not believe in the current political configuration of the country be it political parties or offices that result as a consequence of their activities. Effectively, IMN at its most moderate is an anarchist group that later branched into full fledge terrorism.

We were therefore not surprised when the Federal Government, on the strength of a court order, proscribed IMN as a terrorist organization. Let us not forget that militants of IMN executed a Deputy Commissioner of Police on the streets of Abuja in the course of their violent protest on the same they executed a journalist and wasted the life of a dozen others in the course of expressing their so called rage. Before that they have attempted to overthrow the legislative arm of government, being the premier branch of government, when they stormed the National Assembly and laid siege to the place for several hours. That invasion resulted in deaths.
As a matter of emphasis, the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Nkeonye Maha, in addition to proscribing IMN as a terrorists organization, further restrained “any person or group of persons” from participating in any form of activities involving or concerning the IMN “under any name or platform” in the country.

Gentlemen of the press, we are therefore concerned that rather than desisting from “as acts of terrorism and illegality” as ordered by the court, IMN members have, in contravention of the court, regrouped under the name of the COALITION FOR REVOLUTION (CORE) in order for them to continue with their violent protests and continue killing Nigerians. CORE’s manifesto openly threatened violence by saying “We have the right to be in rage and to protest,” an agenda that not only tallies with IMN’s creed but is also consistent with the behavior of the terrorist organization in recent months.

Further confirmation that CORE is nothing but a rebranded IMN can be found in the second of the five demands of the group:
"For an effective and democratic end to insecurity and insurgency, combined with the immediate dismissal of the security chiefs and release of all political prisoners including the Shiite leader Ibrahim el-Zakzaky.”

Recall that there have been reports that the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Mr Atiku Abubakar has been financing the IMN protests in addition to specifying what targets the group should attack. The other four points of CORE’s demand are consistent with Atiku’s propaganda. What we have learnt is that PDP/Atiku has transferred the existing mandate and funding from IMN to CORE in order for the violent street protests to continue with the assassination of policemen later escalating to include senior government officials.

We are using this opportunity to draw the attention of law enforcement agencies to this mutation of IMN into CORE. It is a ploy to evade the designation of the former as terrorist organization and to enable terrorists to continue gathering freely on the streets.

This poses a great danger to the country as they will again be able to resume killing security personnel before adding public office holders to their kill list. It is imperative that the coordinators of the planned protests beginning August 5, 2019 are identified before that date for the purpose of further investigating and establishing their links with IMN.

Nigerians are advised to note that rather than fighting for their cause, CORE is an agent of subjugation that is representing the interest of Iran and a desperate opposition that is eager to reestablish corruption as a norm. All right thinking people must therefore shun the deceptive protests being called by CORE as they are nothing but a ruse to make people support IMN.

Stand Up For Nigeria, a coalition of 22 Civil Society groups and youths groups is challenging CORE to prove that it is not a mutated IMN with the same mandate and funding source. We will soon expose more details of how the promoters of IMN are the very sponsors of IMN protests in Nigeria.

We re-affirm our commitment, the commitment of Nigeria and Nigerians to the unity and indivisibility of the country. We solemnly pledge that Nigerians will defend the country from any uprising being instigated by disgruntled politicians, sectarian terrorists and commercial protesters in the country.

*Ongoing manipulation of Bayelsa State PDP Governorship Primary delegates by PDP State Secretary*

Bayelsa state PDP Secretary; Mr kiku who is Governor Seriake Dickson’s closest adviser and associate recently ordered all five statutory delegates from some of the wards in the state to submit their VIN number of voters card and PDP membership card to him.

This act of collecting voters card registration number and PDP card numbers of delegates without communicating the reason is very worrisome. This is most especially because the last state PDP primary elections in Yenagoa federal constituency and assembly primaries for Yenegoa constituency 1&3; KOLGA constituency 2 were marred with violence. In these elections, selected delegates were prevented from accessing the venue of the primaries because they were suspected of not supporting the Governor’s preferred candidates. Some of these delegates were beaten, had their clothes torn and their monies and valuables collected. As a matter of fact, the house of representatives primaries for yenegoa/kolokuma-Opukuma federal constituency was marred by indiscriminate shooting and violence.

With a fore experience of this type of violence,intimation and harassment from the restoration government in the past, the delegates have expressed palpable fear as the state PDP Secretary ordered the submission of these items in a gestapo style. A lot of delegates desire that the next primary elections hold peacefully without threats but they also express fears because of threats from state PDP executive leadership preventing them from seeing certain aspirants especially Mr Kenebi Okoko. In fact, the state PDP leadership sometime early this year sanctioned some delegates that had a chat with Mr Kenebi Okoko.

The PDP national chairman and party executives should note that these precedences are unhealthy tendencies exhibited by the Bayelsa state PDP executive leadership and one can infer that this a violence driven government that does not believe in the civilised principles of free and fair elections. With the collection of these information from delegates,a lot of people are worried of their safety as delegates.

The ongoing practice of deliberately victimizing and excluding some delegates perceived to be supporting candidates that are not restoration candidates should not only be condemned but the PDP state Secretary should be sanctioned. Bayelsa PDP cannot afford to be thrown into violence and division by the activities of some over zealous actors of the restoration team. The National executive committee members of the party is kindly invited to note these happenings. They should call on the state actors stop these cancerous and unwholesome practices that may cause crisis and jeopardise the credibility of the the forthcoming pdp governorship primaries in Bayelsa state.

Bayelsa State PDP is known for promoting equity and equality of rights of every stakeholder and a few bad eggs cannot be left to destroy this legacy.


Mr Ebikeme Amaseimogha
Bayelsa PDP integrity group

*

....tasks law enforcement agencies to remain at alert

Foremost anti-terrorism group, the Coalition Against Terrorism in Nigeria (CATE), has joined Nigerians to commend the proscription of Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) as a terrorist group.

Following recent spate of mindless protests in the nation's capital, the Federal Government, on Friday, obtained a court order to banish the Shiite organisation.

Justice Nkeonye Maha of the Federal High Court Abuja issued the order in a ruling which designated the activities of the Shiite group in any part of Nigeria “as acts of terrorism and illegality.”

In a press statement signed by Gabriel Onoja, its National Coordinator, on Saturday, CATE hailed the development, describing as a testament of the FG's responsiveness to the calls of Nigerians.

While hailing the law security agencies for keeping the radical sect in check until the proscription, the group, however, urged them to be on red alert in case of potential attacks.

Read the full statement below:

Gentlemen of the press, on Friday July 26, 2019, Justice Nkeonye Maha of the Federal High Court in Abuja gave an order proscribing the sectarian Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) as terrorist organization. By virtue of the order no person or group of persons are allowed to participate in any form of activities involving or concerning the IMN “under any name or platform” in Nigeria.

We find this development commendable and a testimony to the fact that the government is responsive and considerate of the expert opinions expressed by entities that work in security and peace-building. It is proof that the calls that has been made by stakeholders got to the hearing of those in government.

The Coalition Against Terrorism in Nigeria (CATE) has been at the forefront of the calls for the Federal Government to proscribe IMN the same way the government of Kaduna state outlawed the extremist organization after the release of a white paper that followed a Judicial Commission of Inquiry. CATE, being an organization with knowledge of the dynamics of terrorism based on experiences from its field work, had seen the terrorist inclinations of IMN because they spread their violence into Abuja and other major city.

Had the IMN leader, Mr. Ibaheem El-Zakyzaky not been detained as part of his trial for treason, murder and other offenses before a court in Kaduna state, the terrorists would have looked for another excuse to carry out the same violent acts of terror they are currently engaged in. While many people only became aware of IMN after it entered Abuja, the terror organization has been a long time in evolving; it has a strategy of unnoticeable scaling up of the phases of its strategy, an approach that had worked well for it in over three decades until it met a government that did not brook its nonsense.

For instance, the process of recruiting and radicalizing youths began with training those that are today commanders of IMN; they had in turn trained those that are city leaders, who trained cell leaders, who trained unit leaders – all in a way that created a pyramid command structure. A saving grace is that El-Zakyzaky, who sits atop that pyramid, is on trial and in detention. Their clamour for his release, aside being an excuse to implement their terrorist agenda, is also because they need him freed to implement the final phase of the evil they have planned against Nigeria.

Nigerians must also note how IMN began as a group that was harassing commuters on Zaria Expressway in Kaduna state, transited into a rabble that denied a Chief of Army Staff the right of way before attacking troops. It was to later invade Abuja with its members launching projectiles against troops and policemen before trying to hijack a military convoy transporting weapons. In the final days before the court did the needful, IMN had become a monster that engaged on industrial scale arson against public assets, it went as far as trying to overthrow Nigeria’s democracy during an attack that left a couple of policemen dead and others with life threatening injuries. Within hours of attacking the National Assembly, the terrorist assassinated a Deputy Commissioner of Police, a journalist and many other Nigerians as part of a campaign to instil fear in the population and compel the release of their leader without recourse to judicial processes.

Gentlemen of the press, it is our belief that Nigerians will avail themselves of themselves of details of these evil acts of IMN so that they can better appreciate that its proscription by the court as a terrorist organization was the best possible outcome for Nigeria. We will also like to remind Nigerians of the import of a group being designated a terrorist organization, because it implies speaking positively of such a group would amount to sympathizing with terrorists, which has prescribed punishments. The essence of raising these points is to ensure that Nigerians do not innocently run afoul of the law when they erroneously think they are making social intervention when in reality they are supporting terrorists.

CATE therefore advise Nigerians to be wary of acts that could make them to be held as being part of IMN terrorist infrastructure that has been proscribed by the government. Nigerians should avoid joining their protests because there have been instances in the past where some misguided people joined such protest under the wrong impression that they were in solidarity with IMN. Nigerians must also avoid issuing statements or making other forms of communications that express support for IMN since these will by default qualify as activities carried out in pursuit of terrorism.

To the law enforcement, military and security agencies, CATE gives kudos and commend them for keeping IMN in check until the court proscribed them in accordance with the law. They must now intensify efforts at ridding Nigeria of the kind of extremism and terrorist inclination represented by IMN; they should, on the strength of the court order and a subsequent publication to be made by the Federal Government, ensure that terrorists never again openly hold violent protests to the detriment of peace in Nigeria.

They must also ensure diligent prosecution of all IMN fighters that has been arrested in the course of the violent protests and they should be charged with the highest offense possible since it is important that they are made to know that acts that deprive others of their lives will not be condoned even from terrorists.

Attention must also be turned to those that have been financing IMN as part of a ploy to use them as a political tool. CATE had expressed concerns in the past about how opposition politicians were financing and arming IMN in order to use them to sabotage the incumbent government. Those found to have finance IMN in this fashion should now be investigated and brought to book for the damage they have done to the country.

*Insecurity: Former Senate President, Ebute writes Buhari, insists Obasanjo pursuing strange interests against the country*

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is championing a conspiracy campaign to destabilise the nation and undermine President Muhammadu Buhari's government according to respected Second Republic Senate President, Sen. Ameh Ebute.

The 73-year-old trained lawyer made this known in a letter addressed to the president on Friday.

In the epistle , Senator Ebute opined that the ex-president's recent outburst was born out of frustration against the current administration, instigating killings, armed criminality and violent protests.

The former lawmaker added that his assertions were “absurd, farcical, emotional, self-serving and lamentable expression of his emptiness on affairs of Nigeria in blind fury”.

Senator Ebute, however, urged the president not to be deterred by Obasanjo and his veiled agents desperate to return Nigeria back to the old, gloaming days.

Read full letter below:

Sir, let me congratulate you on the constitution of your #Nextlevelcabinet, which process of confirmation of the Ministerial nominees is ongoing at the Red Chamber of the National Assembly (NASS).

I am overwhelmingly elated that you have shamed your antagonists and ardent critics by the quality of your nominees. They comprise competent and trusted technocrats, professionals and politicians who can assist you in propelling your laudable vision in the next four years, some of whom also served in your preceding cabinet, but have been retained ostensibly based on their tested and proven capacities of hard work.

May I seize this opportunity to condole with you, the Inspector General of Police, the NYSC, Channels Television and the families of a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Usman Umar; a serving corps member, a reporter attached to Channels Television, Mr. Precious Owolabi and all those allegedly killed by the violent protesters of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) otherwise known as the Shiites. May their souls rest in perfect peace. Amen!

My sympathies also go to you for Nigerians who suffered various degrees of injuries and incurred losses during the incensed and violent protests by the extremists Shiites sect members. It would have been worse but for the professionalism of the Police and other security agencies who paid the supreme price for the rest of us to be alive. We are immensely grateful.

Mr. President, I have no doubt that our dear nation has been unnecessary troubled and deliberately plunged into needless and avoidable crises. It has now dawned on me clearly that the same forces against public sanity, order and discipline which your administration has brought to bear on the polity and governance of Nigeria are more incensed now than ever as manifest in these evil plots to destabilize your administration and enthrone monumental chaos in the country.

And it is evident these detractors and evil men, are either pulling the strings directly or using hired agents to do everything possible within their powers to upstage you, destabilize your Presidency and the country. This is against the wishes of the overwhelming population of our people who actually came out in their large number to enthrone this administration despite the campaign of calumny and blackmail to disconnect you from your teeming supporters and followers in and outside the country.

Quite unfortunately, the latest anger against your administration and the spate of instigated killings, armed criminality and violent protests by some groups, are spurred by those who are obviously abusing the democratic liberty to lawful assembly, freedom of expression and rule of law with these renewed unrests. Their antics are already known to the security agencies and many Nigerians like my humble self who have had a long standing participation in the polity and by providence as an elder statesman.

It is extremely suicidal for Mr. President to forget or even underrate the capacity of his adversaries for instigative crises since those you defeated at the 2019 general elections are still around. I remain one person among many Nigerians who is not convinced the enemies have given up on their satanic mission to destroy the country in connivance with foreign interests hell-bent on the destruction of Nigeria. Our recent experience in the hands of these paid protesters is a pointer to this well informed fact.

I was perplexed that recently, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, an elder statesman who openly opposed your reelection ambition for no logical reasons and indeed, worked for your defeat by backing your strongest rival in the presidential poll again, wrote another open epistle to you. It is however not surprising to many of us who have had to tolerate his excesses as statesmen in various capacities.

And while you have not faulted anyone of them in the exercise of his or her democratic rights to freedom of choice, but surprisingly and expectedly, Obasanjo enviously regurgitated the same old, stale, puerile and, whitewashed tales about your Presidency and impressive leadership of the country.

While I do not intend that this letter serve as a direct response to Chief Obasanjo’s letter, it may serve as a tacit reply to his absurd, farcical, unidealistic, emotional, self-serving and lamentable expression of his emptiness on affairs of Nigeria in blind fury. This is because an attempt by any of us to re-write the history of the country will remain a disservice to the younger generation for a long time to come.

The issues raised by Obasanjo in the latest letter to you, in my understanding, only belittles his status and confirms his egoistic subservience to personal agenda, instead of the collective progress and development of Nigeria which we all sacrificed our comfort and pleasure to pursue.

Your Excellency Sir, without a doubt in my mind and having gone through series of commentaries and replies to Obasanjo from Nigerians who love, cherish and hold Nigeria dear to their hearts; and those who believe in the unity and indivisibility of our country, the dominant voices dismissed the contents of Obasanjo’s letter as irritating hogwash.

Therefore, Mr. President and leader of our nation, it may interest you to know that Obasanjo has been isolated, ostracized and indeed, stands alone like someone marooned on an Island, because majority of Nigerians have expressed in words and actions their unwillingness to toe his inglorious line, polluted thoughts and destructive antics.

It smacks of childishness for the same Obasanjo, who glowingly commended your government for its winning streaks in the battle against Boko Haram Insurgency and the anti-corruption campaign, in his first open letter to you in 2018, would turn around to recant his words today on same issues. It was the same Security Chiefs and troops who performed the marvelous feats he previously praised glowingly.

This sudden U-turn is not ordinary, and it gives me the strong suspicion that Obasanjo must have aligned himself with the internal and external forces clandestinely plotting the destruction of Nigeria, whilst he embarks on his usual manner of intermittently gauging public mood by pontificating his fake sanctimoniousness.

Obasanjo truly needs the prayers of all Nigerians to regain himself because he has veered too far off the track of wisdom and reason. It is our hope that despite all the Almighty God will find a place to forgive him his sins and all the wrongs he has done to Nigeria.

Mr. President Sir , it is not controvertible that anyone who does or have not seen your efforts in these past four years in the impactful reforms being carried out in the military in order to give to Nigeria a loyal and patriotic Armed Forces that will its best to the nation is bewitched by Obasanjo’s haunting “disease” which I prefer to classify mildly as senility.

Obasanjo and his dozens of veiled agents want to return Nigeria back to Egypt and thus, saddened that the Armed Forces are apolitical, and no more the politicized Military like his leadership gangsters reduced our Armed Forces and Security Chiefs in the immediate past. Such Nigerians are like “coupists” and must be watched closely before they derail the progressive transformation agenda of your administration.

Mr. President Sir, your defeat of Boko Haram insurgency and its taming to a very weak ragtag group that can only carryout ambushes and attacks on obscure soft targets is legendary. It remains the best thing your administration has done for Nigeria, ditto for the extinction of other armed insurrectional sects.

Please do not be deterred and remain more undaunted in your determination and obsession with building and nurturing a responsible military under your leadership as Commander-In-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. And stop at nothing to ensure our military continue to receive adequate training and resources to imbue them with even greater capacities to address the renewed threats to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Nigeria.

It has enormous benefits to the nation and undoubtedly, one of the greatest things that has ever happened to restore the lost image of our country. Nigerians are now proud of a sanitized and corruption- free Armed Forces under your command and the likes of Obasanjo and his demented surrogates are free to yell on rooftops. But the rantings are inconsequential.

Mr. President, believe me or not, but Chief Obasanjo has vengefully and unapologetically spoken for the vested interests which are angling to destabilize the country. It is obvious because the masses revolted through the ballot and thwarted the success of his preferred candidate for the 2019 Presidency and the palpable, unjustified anger against your leadership.

And I feel it behooves on those of us on the side of millions of patriotic Nigerians to speak out because we still believe in a united nation under a Buhari Presidency. We are irrevocably committed to it and shall continue to nurture it for posterity.

Sir, may I further confide in you openly that you should not succumb to any attempt by the paid protesters whether of armed Shiites or any other group to blackmail your administration in order to have a leeway in their evil designs. This is the time for you to take decisive actions against traitors in any guise; remain firm and steadfast in all your undertakings for greater public good and in the best interest of the country.

The sustained killing of security agents, innocent Nigerians and destructions to public properties by members of the repulsive fanatical IMN sect must be brought to an end by your government by whatever means possible. I am happy you are also thinking along this direction with your warning in the aftermath of the latest incident that the Shiites are pushing you to the wall and they should not tempt you any further. The Nigerian people whom you swore to defend and protect are eagerly yearning for a decisive action that will bring these traitors and enemies of human freedom to book.

No Nigerian with the genuine interest of our country at heart will dispute the fact that IMN is a terrorists sect, which has mushroomed in Nigeria under the leadership of Sheik Ibraheem EL-Zakzaky without lawful registration for over 40 years, but operates illegally as a religious body, which publicly proclaims allegiance to the Republic of Iran and vows disobedience to Nigeria’s laws and constituted authority.

The IMN sect members beginning with their leader have dispensed themselves as both terrorists and aggressors that have been radicalized, militarized and funded by foreign elements and should neither have a place nor a chance to operate in our country with such impunity and lawlessness. Mr. Presidsnt Sir, the bulk is on your table to again, save Nigerians from their swords and the looming catastrophe as reflected in the actions of armed protesters in Nigeria.

Finally, I make haste to plead with Nigerians and the rest of the world particularly America’s President Donald Trump and British’s newest Prime Minister, Mr. Boris Johnson to stand with Nigeria against acts of destructive religious fanaticism, which have morphed into embryonic stages of terrorism as demonstrated by the Shiites in Nigeria.

I fear that this dangerous group is fast spreading tentacles around the world and I urge that all Nigerians must stand with Mr. President to get rid of the IMN violent extremism before it is too late. I am urging Nigerians to have uniformity of reason by chorusing with one voice, the monsters we have known of the IMN in Nigeria before they plunge Nigerian into another brand of explosive terrorism. They are terrorists and should have no place in our society.

Mr. President Sir, you must stand firm at this hour and never yield to the gang -up by those who want to take Nigeria back to Egypt. Nigerians are solidly behind you!

Thank You, Your Excellency for the audience.

Revealed: How PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar released a massive amount of monies to Shiites to destabilize Nigeria.

Fresh facts at the disposal of this medium have indicated that the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the just-concluded general elections, Atiku Abubakar may be behind the recent upsurge of the violent activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).

According to impeccable sources who pleaded anonymity stated that the PDP presidential candidate having failed to actualize his ambition through the ballot has vowed to ensure that the country is ungovernable for the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The source stated that “On the verge of the elections, there were indications that Atiku Abubakar must have been short-changed by some of his trusted allies who he entrusted with monies for vote-buying across the country. When news filtered in that these monies were cornered, he was upset and knew his ambition of inducing voters in some key swing states would be a mirage” he stated.

The source further added that Atiku Abubakar from that moment started planning his next steps, which included distracting the present administration in all ways and means possible.

“The Turakin was livid and vowed to use all means to cause a distraction for the incoming administration. At a meeting with top associates, the Turakin was said to have confided in them that his start point would be the courts, accusing INEC of incompetence and underhand dealings with the APC.”

“This much accounted for the INEC server controversy that took centre stage in the country with the release of a purported server result. The idea of the INEC server was sold to the Turakin by a close associate from one of the South Western states with a background in ICT and a big player in the ICT industry in Nigeria.”

Another source within the know of things in the plot within the camp of the presidential candidate stated that the Turakin camp tried to reach out to some staffers of the ICT in INEC to allow them access to the INEC server.

“Two top staffers of the ICT department in INEC were offered huge amounts of money which were turned down on the basis that the 2019 general elections were not transmitted to the INEC server. The INEC staffers were vehement in their stance which did not go down well with the Turakin, and subsequently, a plan B was activated which was to take advantage of the agitations by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria for the release of its leader from detention.”

The source stated that when this idea was muted to the Turakin, he bought into it wholeheartedly.

“Turakin was impressed with the Shiites option that he conveyed a meeting with his top associates in Dubai due to the sensitivity of the issue. At the Dubai meeting which was meant to be under the radar of the press was of sort of strategy session where it was agreed that a special covert committee meets covertly with the leadership of the IMN in Nigeria to support its activities.”

The source added that the PDP presidential candidate stated that he didn’t want any trace of the covert support to him as the consequences of such actions might be disastrous for him.

It was also discovered that the select committee reached out to some close associates of the IMN in Kaduna and sympathized with them on the continued incarceration of their spiritual leader and made some hefty donations towards what was term welfare donations for the members of the IMN whose sources of livelihood have been stopped.

“A princely sum of $2milion was given in three tranches in Abuja, Kaduna and Nasarawa state to three different groups in a way to evade any form of detection by the security agencies.”

“The bulk of the monies disbursed came from Intels in Onne port and was meant for the purchase of auxiliary machinery and spare parts for use by the organization, but was eventually diverted to three associates who delivered to the top echelon of the IMN at three different locations.”

According to a top member of the IMN who pleaded anonymity for fear of execution confided in this medium that the recent upsurge of the activities of the IMN is as a result of the monetary inducement from Atiku Abubakar.

“Most of our members were told that they should be daring this time around in their confrontations with the security agencies as there would be a huge reward for the success of the protest this time around and this amounted the defiance nature of our members during the protest.”

“I know that some monies were given in large quantity, but I don’t know the source. For every protest, each member of given the sum of N200,000 and the families of those that died was given 10 million naira each by our leaders.” He stated.

This medium also gathered from sources with the top echelon of the IMN that after the last protest another sum of N800 million was delivered to the IMN with a condition attached to it and that more members should be recruited into the sect and they should be mobilized towards staging violent protest simultaneously around the country.

“As we speak, the IMN is one of the richest organizations in Nigeria with the level of funding it has been receiving in recent times. We were shocked to find out that there are people in this country that sympathizes with us. I know of a top PDP bigwig who has been consistent with his support for our activities and hence why we have been able to garner strength and continue with our agitations till our spiritual leader is released from custody.”

“They always tell us that Ran Ka dede sends his regards whenever they come to deliver welfare monies to us. Most of us don’t know who the Ran Ka Dede is but a few of us know it is Atiku Abubakar the presidential candidate of the PDP in the last elections.”

“We know he is not our member, but he has been supportive of our activities since the incarceration of our leader, and for that anything he wants us to do we do heartily.” He stated.

This much was corroborated by a highly placed security source who stated that the covert funding of the activities of IMN was traced to some highly placed individuals close to Atiku Abubakar.

“There are a couple of indications that the activities of the IMN are sponsored by some highly placed politicians who are hell-bent on destabilizing the government of the day. These individuals have resulted in all sort of unorthodox means towards actualizing their objectives, which of course includes sponsoring the violent activities of the IMN.”

The security source also added that the security agencies are on top of the situation towards revealing the identities of those behind the nefarious activities of IMN.

“We are still gathering intel on the sponsorship of the IMN. I can’t reveal names for now but what I can say is that those behind the nefarious activities of IMN would be brought to justice soon.”

It would be recalled that in the past few weeks, the IMN had undertaken violent protest across the country demanding the release of its leader, Ibraheem El-Zarzaky from custody despite the ongoing court process.

By Karen Goulding

Nigeria is indeed a great country because, despite the array of conspiracies geared towards its disintegration, the country has been able to pull through even in the face of its adversaries. I belong to the school of thought that posits that there are some secret plans by some external collaborators to see that Nigeria is destabilized and eventually disintegrates.

I won’t mince words in this regards. The proponents of this dishonourable plot are covered under various unsuspecting nomenclatures. A good example is Amnesty International, the world-acclaimed human rights group that claims it has more than 7 million members and supporters around the world.

In my years of conducting researches, I have never come across an organization as sleazy as Amnesty International. Their activities are structured in such a way that it is for sale to the highest bidder. And one of their bargaining tools is blackmail. And guess what, it has worked for them in other climes where they have operations but not in Nigeria.

This fact reinforces my initial statement about Nigeria surviving several conspiracies to remain strong and united. And this was possible because Nigerians saw through their gimmick early enough else I bet you it would have been a catastrophic story for Nigeria if the likes of Amnesty International had their way.

Make no mistakes, Amnesty International are significant players in the game of blackmail and mischief, this modus operandi has paid off handsomely because they have over time built a vast network in both the international and local media through which they dispense their yearly reports which are often outright insinuations, illogical conclusions, and an amalgamation of half-truths.

I recall a time I attended a conference in London on the role of Civil Society Organizations in breeding distrust and disunity in countries around the African region, and the name Amnesty International led the pack of those organizations whose activities are suspect and must be scrutinized by countries where they are in operation.

One of the guest speakers at the conference stated that “It is obvious that across the globe where Amnesty International has state offices, it has been observed that its methodology in information gathering was defective.” And the participants agreed with him in totality. He further added that “Amnesty International is primarily motivated not by human rights but by publicity, money, getting more members and internal turf battles.”

And this brings me to the activities of Amnesty International in Nigeria with regards to the fight against Boko Haram insurgents and other militant groups in the country. It was such a sickening situation the military authorities had with Amnesty International who somewhat became the mouthpiece of a group of people that kill and destroy without mercy. I recall that Amnesty International on several occasions accused the Nigerian military of human rights violations by killing Boko Haram fighters in the battlefield.

But they kept mute on the millions of women and children that had been killed and displaced by this same terrorist group. I recall that at some point the military authorities accused Amnesty International of causing a distraction in the war against terrorism in Nigeria by its unfounded allegations of human rights violations and challenged it to come up with tangible pieces of evidence or desist from heating the polity unnecessarily. But there was none.

They didn’t stop at that, and they resorted to engaging local NGO’s by pushing a narrative that would attract condemnation to the military. But again it didn’t fly because some of these NGO’s saw through their game plan and refused to play ball. In my opinion, Nigerians got fed up with the nefarious activities of Amnesty International that at a point, there were agitations for the expulsion of Amnesty International from Nigeria. And how they managed to survive the mass protests remains a mystery till date.

Some school of thought argued that their strong links in the media made that possible because in truth, Amnesty International had infiltrated the bulk of the media organizations in Nigeria who hitherto gave their activities prominence without verifying the substance of their allegations against the Nigerian military and by extension the Nigerian Authorities.

And now, it is interesting to see how Amnesty International has resurfaced with a strong support for the violent activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) regardless of the fact that this group has taken the laws into their hands by disrupting public peace, constituting themselves into a parallel government and killing innocent civilians as well as security agents.

I am of the firm conviction that this time around, Amnesty International is either eyeing the petrodollars from Iran or it has been induced monetarily by the Islamic Republic of Iran to lend its voice to the plight of its faithful’s in Nigeria. It is either of both cases because it defeats human comprehension on why Amnesty International would attempt to take sides with a violent organization such as the IMN.

They cannot feign ignorance to the fact that the recent resurgence of the violent tendencies of IMN in Nigeria that has seen to the death of scores of people including a high ranking police officer who was shot in the head while trying to calm the IMN protesters was not sponsored.

They cannot also feign ignorance to the fact that the IMN enjoys tremendous support from Iran and other terrorist organizations around the world. These organizations, in their wisdom, have provided monetary and logistic support to the IMN to destabilize the country and guess what? It appears Amnesty International has been drafted into the plot, else how could one explain its tactic support for the violent actions of the IMN of indeed it is an organization dedicated to the ideals of human rights.

As it has been stated in many forums, Amnesty International is primarily motivated by monetary gains before any other thing because its report lacked any actual evidence, with its presentation consisting instead of fabricated images, sounds, maps, and diagrams. Amnesty International has consistently used the techniques of classical deception to target and manipulates audiences emotionally.

At this point, I stand to say in unequivocal terms that what Amnesty International is engaged in is not human rights advocacy, but rather politically-motivated war propaganda simply hiding behind such advocacy as in the case of its activities in Nigeria and other climes where it operates. They are indeed terrors new bride.

Goulding wrote this piece from London, United Kingdom.

My attention has been drawn to the Press Release allegedly made by the Chief Ayo Adebanjo led Afenifere faction, whereat the respected leader made assertions using my humble self’s encounter with Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Vigilante Group in Akoko area of Ondo State as part of the rationale for the vituperations contained in the said press release.
 
While I deplore in totality the presence of any vigilante group particularly armed ones anywhere, I wish to state for the umpteenth time that my concern is borne of the need for better security for our people and not to score some sheer political points against anyone or any ethnic group and/or authority.
 
I wish to further place on record that I have great respect for the Afenifere and I am an unrepentant adherent of the Yoruba Culture and Tradition of giving respect and paying obeisance to the Elders.
 
While recognizing the mentorship and indelible contributions of the Chief Ayo Adebanjo-led Afenifere faction, I am however compelled to reiterate my opposition to and departure from the style of the Afenifere faction, particularly from the time when, without due consultation with the entire members and stakeholders, some chose to use the platform as one of the political advocacy mercenaries of the Atiku/PDP before the last elections. From all indications, it is quite apparent that the position of the faction is irrepressibly political.

I state unequivocally that I have a right of dissent and hereby distance myself from those conclusions by the respected leader, designed or calculated to vilify or demonize any group of people or government to the extent of criminalizing a particular tribe.

The narrative that every criminal, armed robber and kidnapper is a Fulani herdsman because a Fulani man is at the helm of affairs or a Fulani man committed a criminal offence, is a dangerous assertion that can undermine the corporate existence of our dear motherland. Criminals must be regarded as criminals without branding them with any ethnic, religious or regional coloration.
 
What is clear is that insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery are our common enemies. We must join forces together in finding a lasting solution to this menace which has eaten deep into the fabric of our nation.
 
While admitting the fact that variety is the spice of federalism, it is however imperative to state that unity in diversity is the fulcrum upon which true federalism and democracy stands.
 
To say more at this juncture will be otiose.
 
Kayode Ajulo Ph.D
Castle of Law
Maitama, Abuja.
25th July, 2019

Stop playing the devil’s advocate, group warns Amnesty International over conspiracy to destabilize Nigeria

The Amnesty International has been warned against playing "devil's advocate" over alleged conspiracy to destabilise the entity called Nigeria.

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre (SHAC), which handed down this warning to AI, said it was shocked over the comment by the group on the recent clash between Shiites and security personnel in Abuja.


Amnesty International had faulted the security personnel for using force against the violent group.

Reacting, however, SHAC through its Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Abubakar, at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, said it was obvious AI was working with those conspiring to make Nigeria ungovernable.

The group, therefore, called on Amnesty International to discontinue its open support for terrorism in Nigeria forthwith.

Full text of his speech below.


Gentlemen, the Save Humanity Advocacy Centre, SHAC, is disappointed but not surprised by the decision of Amnesty International (Nigeria) to become sectarian through its endorsement of the terrorist acts of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN. We are not surprised because Amnesty International has made it clear in all instances of security breaches in Nigeria that it has an agenda that is geared towards the termination of Nigeria as a corporate entity.

Amnesty International has been running an endorsement campaign for and on behalf of IMN. It exploits these campaigns to legitimize the acts of terror being committed by the radicalized IMN members without recognizing that there are victims in the criminality being perpetrated by the IMN. Rather, it is the IMN that has been painted into victimhood while the Nigerian state, its organs and agencies have been branded as aggressors when all they are doing is to protect the life and property of citizens, which is a primary responsibility of government.

Even at a time when it is taken for granted that Amnesty International cannot sink lower than it already has in supporting terrorists like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, it has successfully broken its own record at being irresponsible. On a day that IMN militants shot at policemen and killed a Deputy Commissioner of Police, other policemen, a journalist and innocent Nigerians, Amnesty International still managed to cause outrage by continuing to defend the attacks carried out by its militants.
Gentlemen of the press, even when our members and other Nigerians witnessed IMN militants attacking and shooting other Nigerians, Amnesty International, shamelessly tweeted that the Federal Government is clamping down on “peaceful protesters”.

One of the lying tweets reads, “This new crackdown is part of a shocking pattern in which security forces have used live ammunition to disperse IMN supporters who are simply exercising their freedom of expression.”

We are at a loss as to at what point invading the parliament, attacking policemen and other Nigerians became freedom of expression.

We are also trying hard to reconcile the relationship between freedom of expression and arson, in which IMN militants set vehicles ablaze in a development that did not spare emergency ambulances.
In furtherance of its propaganda, aimed at insulating IMN from retribution for its terrorist attacks in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, Amnesty International accused the Nigerian police of “reckless use of lethal force” “against unarmed supporters of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN)”. Even if IMN had falsely claimed in the past that its members were not armed, their attack on the National Assembly, which killed at least two policemen, should have forced the NGO to reassess the kind of lies it is willing to tell on behalf of IMN.

An organization that has regards for truth would have known that there are videos and pictures that capture the aspects of the protests it is hiding from the world.
Amnesty International’s tweet storm about the attack not only painted IMN militants as armless but went on to lament that they were “being driven from the streets of Abuja. This marks the height of irresponsibility, one that we believe the Nigerian government should firmly censure in order for the world not to be misled into believing the lies being told by the NGO.

Had the IMN members been left on the streets of Abuja, there is no telling the extent of lives that would have been lost to their attacks. Leaving the militants on the streets would have also resulted in further damages to public property, which Amnesty International omitted to mention, even though they destroyed government facilities worth billions of naira.

The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre condemn Amnesty International in the strongest terms possible for its destabilization agenda in Nigeria and for its refusal to see beyond this agenda even when IMN has accepted responsibility a clear case which the IMN have admitted blames the AI still wants to twist the narrative. This is unfortunate and well-meaning Nigerians and members of the society demand immediate apology from AI.

We demand that Amnesty International discontinue its open support for terrorism in Nigeria forthwith. Contrary to the way the NGO is carrying on, Nigeria is not banana republic and cannot be coerced into taking instructions from Amnesty International or be scared of it IMN terrorist collaborators.

The International Centre for Justice (ICJ) (Africa Regional Affairs) has condemned the murder of Precious Owolabi, a members of the National Youth Service Corps attached to Channels TV, during a clash between security personnel and members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.

The group also condemned in its totality the growing spate of sectarian extremism across the world and particularly in Nigeria where the IMN group now targets security agencies that have the responsibility of stopping its members from spreading chaos in that country.


Mark Omita, Vice President (Africa Affairs) of the group in a statement issued in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, equally condemned persons, groups or nations that promote IMN’s brand of terrorism through the support being extended to the group in violation of Nigeria’s sovereignty.

ICJ also advised the Federal Government of Nigeria to promptly withdraw the “directive not to engage” given to law enforcement agencies in order for them to be able to deploy legitimate force in dealing with IMN attacks.

Full text of the statement below.


The International Centre for Justice (ICJ) has been updated on another incident in Nigeria in which sectarian Shiite members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) on Monday July 22, 2019 attempted to repeat an invasion of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Members of the IMN were reported to have attacked other locations in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja when they were unable to overrun the parliament in line with their original plan. The arson, destruction of government vehicles and those of the civilian population in Monday’s attack is noted.

This latest attack adds a new layer of concern to the apprehension previously expressed about the worsening activities of IMN in Nigeria, which had accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of sponsoring the group’s activities. Particular attention is paid to the escalation of IMN aggression in Nigeria and a corresponding aggression from Iran against countries that are working to hold it to account for illegally developing nuclear weapons.

The activities of IMN, whether freely of the volition of its members or tele-guided by Iran, is a danger to Africa’s most populous nation and the West-African sub-region, which is already fragile as country governments strive to get rid of terrorist groups operating around the Lake Chad Basin and Northern Mali. The region and the world in general does not the need another terror group to add to the list of those that must be hunted down for other citizens to be safe.

ICJ consequently condemn in its totality the growing spate of sectarian extremism across the world and particularly in Nigeria where the IMN group now targets security agencies that have the responsibility of stopping its members from spreading chaos in that country. Our initial inquiry confirmed that law enforcement officers are unable to robustly respond to the threats posed by IMN members because of a “directive not to engage,” a loophole that the extremists now exploit to oppress other citizens.

It is worrisome that IMN has reportedly used the period that this directive subsists to graduate into using dangerous weapons, ammunitions and explosives on public buildings, against security operatives and for destroying the properties of innocent citizens. This has effectively moved IMN from the band of an organization protesting for rights restoration to one that can officially be designated a terrorist group, and to the extent that it receives resources from Iran across borders it qualifies as an international terrorist organization.

We equally condemn persons, groups or nations that promote IMN’s brand of terrorism through the support being extended to the group in violation of Nigeria’s sovereignty. We advise such entities to cease and desist all acts that undermine the sovereignty of Nigeria or threaten the safety of its citizens. A continuation of such support for IMN should be counted as a crime against humanity and eligible to be subjected to the relevant international instrument.

Irrespective of the support IMN is getting as identified, the duty of safeguarding the life and property of citizens falls on government and the authorities in Nigeria cannot abdicate this responsibility on the excuse or pretext of complying with international protocols. The life of a law-abiding citizen is no less in value to that of someone that elected to become a terrorist. The government of the Federal Government of Nigeria must therefore do all that is necessary to protect its population, including those working in law enforcement, from IMN attacks.

ICJ strongly advises the Federal Government of Nigeria to promptly withdraw the “directive not to engage” given to law enforcement agencies in order for them to be able to deploy legitimate force in dealing with IMN attacks. Security personnel should be allowed to respond to threats as firmly as required and quickly too. A key message the government should be sending to IMN and other groups that may have plans of embracing its brand of violence is that the state’s monopoly of violence exists to safeguard civilian population from violence.

The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) has decried the incessant protest being staged by members of the Islamic Movement in the Nigeria over the detention of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

The centre said IMN members were using terror and violence to subvert justice in ongoing trial of El- Zakzakky.


CESJET made this disclosure in a special report on the activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria that culminated in the inauguration of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry as well as the ongoing court proceedings involving its leader Ibrahim El-Zakzaky in Kaduna State.

Isaac Ikpa, Executive Director of the group, who signed the report, it was indeed discovered that the activities of the IMN in Nigeria had constituted a threat to the sovereignty of the country through its actions that in most cases are against the constituted authorities

The report below.

The Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency (CESJET) commissioned a report to look into the activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) that led to the arrest and charging to court of its spiritual leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, as well as critically examining judicial decisions, actions of the Federal government and the reason why El-Zakzaky hasn’t been released.

CESJET having followed the chain of events closely from inception, commissioned the report in an attempt to leave the realm of speculation and present tangible facts in proper perspective as regards the ongoing trial of the spiritual leader of the IMN for members of the general public and other concerned stakeholders in Nigeria and elsewhere.

The IMN is a Shi’ite religious and political organization whose leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, has been a proponent of Shi’a Islam in Nigeria since the 1980s, calling for an Islamic revolution to create an Islamic state in Nigeria and end Western influence in the country. The IMN says it gets inspiration from Islamic Iran in its struggles and activities, but denies being funded by Iran.

The IMN has had uneasy relations with the Nigerian authorities for decades, and its spiritual leader has been jailed several times by successive regimes, spending a total of nine years in prison since the mid-1980s, mostly accused of treason or civil disobedience. Successive Nigerian authorities have accused the IMN of disregarding the law and operating as a state within a state. Processions, demonstrations and other activities organized by the IMN, usually without obtaining the necessary permits and at times blocking public roads, have resulted in a confrontation with the Nigerian authorities and strained relations with other communities.

In 2015, the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff was ambushed by members of the IMN sect during a procession in Zaria. The visible threat to the life of the Chief of Army Staff resulted in exchanges by the Nigerian Army and members of the sect, which eventually led to the arrest of its spiritual leader.

A Commission of Enquiry was set up by the Kaduna State Government to look at the issues surrounding the clash between the Nigerian Army and the IMN, and consequently, the Kaduna state government relying on the findings of the Commission of Inquiry declared the IMN an Insurgent group. The government’s position was contained in a white paper released on the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the December 2015 clash, between soldiers and members of the IMN in Zaria.
The white paper blamed the IMN for the clash and recommended the investigation and prosecution of any of its members found to have been involved in any form of human rights abuse since their existence in Zaria over 30 years ago. The government’s white paper, however, absolved the Nigerian army from any act of human right violation in the Zaria clash, insisting that the army abides by the rules of engagement.

In a similar vein, the Kaduna State chapter of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN) called on the Federal Government, to ban all activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria and prosecute their leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

Rising from their meeting in Kaduna, the group comprising of Islamic preachers and scholars, supported the indictment of the Shiites by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the Kaduna State government to investigate the December 2015 clash between the Shiites and soldiers in Zaria.

The Muslim leaders maintained that the acts of impunity exhibited by the group over the years in Zaria and other states in Nigeria’s northern region were against the teachings of Islam and the Nigerian Constitution. They re-emphasized the urgent need to proscribe the Shiites for the interest of peace and security of Nigeria.

Upon scrutiny of the report by CESJET, it was indeed discovered that the activities of the IMN in Nigeria had constituted a threat to the sovereignty of the country through its actions that in most cases are against the constituted authorities. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry highlighted this much set up by the Kaduna State government to unravel the remote cause of the clash between the Nigerian Army and the IMN.

The outcome of our report also indicated that right from inception the IMN has the practice of radicalizing its members which have resulted in frequent clashes with constituted authorities in Zaria, its environs and many states across the country.
The IMN has been steadfast and deliberate in widespread and frequent acts of lawlessness and defiance of constituted authorities including refusal to recognize the legitimacy, authority of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

They devote their time, assets, money, and networks to the well-being and development of the Movement. Apart from member contributions, the IMN has access to international resources and assets from the Iranian government and some Lebanese businesses and networks in Nigeria.

It was also discovered that the IMN had terrorized residents of Zaria (Gyallesu) for the past 40 years. According to Alhaji Saidu Garba, one of the elders of the Gyallesu area in Zaria, “after El-Zakzaky was released from detention in 1999, he came and settled in Gyallesu, and since then, there is no peace in our area. We thank Allah for touching the heart of government and the military for liberating us from Shiite's untold hardship.”

“Shiites killed many of our people who challenged their activities, we buried them, and we couldn’t talk to the world because of their threat. We were living like slaves in our land where the Shiite leader, Sheikh El-Zakzaky, came and met us. We residents of Gyallesu are calling on the Federal government to ban the Shiite movement in our community and Kaduna state as a whole. The government should put a stop to the Shiite’s ungodly activities in our area.”

It was also discovered that Iran’s Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah have coordinated intelligence gathering on U.S. and Israeli targets in Nigeria and engaged in weapons and drug trafficking in West Africa with operatives drawn from the IMN. And this accounts for the bulk of the funding it receives for their activities in Nigeria.

It was also discovered that the agenda of the Iranian Government in Nigeria towards the Muslim community had suffered setbacks since the detention and trial of Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. And they have covertly reached out to some highly placed members of the judiciary in Nigeria with enormous monetary incentives so Ibrahim El-Zakzaky could be discharged and acquitted of all the charges levelled against him.

The report was also able to identify that some foreign network who are allies of the IMN have been covertly fuelling the recent resurgence of the violent activities of the IMN by channelling funds to the IMN leadership in Nigeria through their various businesses in Nigerian and the francophone countries to sustain their street protests across the country.

The report further revealed a covert international lobby to mount pressure on the Nigerian government towards truncating the ongoing trial of the IMN spiritual leader Ibrahim El-Zarzaky for the reason that the allegations are weighty, and the possibility of the IMN spiritual leader getting discharged and acquitted are very slim given the multiple evidence of acts of terrorism against him and the IMN as a group.

The Iranian government and other allies of the IMN are afraid that with the conviction of the IMN leader in Nigeria, the world attention would focus on them and which would further bring about some level of international scrutiny of their covert activities all around the world through groups and organizations.

It was also discovered that part of the grand plot is to resort to blackmailing the government by co-opting a part of the media towards painting a picture of unlawful detention of the IMN leader and the refusal of the present administration to honour court rulings.
The plot also included putting forward a narrative that hinges on supposed falling health of the IMN leader and painting the Nigerian government in a bad light.

It was also discovered that there had been a grand plot to use unorthodox means to set the IMN leader free, which includes kidnappings of family members of highly placed government functionaries in Kaduna and other parts of Nigeria to be used as a bargaining tool for the release of the IMN leader.

Given the magnitude of information at the disposal of CESJET on the activities of the IMN in Nigeria, it is sufficing to state that the recent push by adherents of the IMN for the release of their spiritual leader is misplaced and a highly strategic plot to see that the IMN spiritual leader escapes justice.

The atrocities committed by the IMN in the past forty years in Kaduna and other parts of Nigeria are too weighty to be ignored given the fact that they have indeed carried on as a terrorist organization to overthrow the constituted authorities in Nigeria.

The trial of the IMN leader has indeed thwarted that plot as he is the only one under the IMN structure that can give orders on operational strategies of the group.
CESJET from all the pieces of information gathered from the research states that the IMN is indeed a terrorist organization whose main agenda geared towards the destabilization of Nigeria in line with the international terrorist network lead by the Iranian authorities.

CESJET believes that the agitations for the release of the spiritual leader of the IMN are an attempt towards evading justice and a massive disservice to the victims of the atrocities of the IMN in Nigeria who have been killed.

CESJET suggests that instead of the violent street protests across the country, the IMN should instead seek state pardon and severe ties with the terrorist network that has been sponsoring its violent activities.

CESJET also states that the government should stand resolute in seeking justice for victims of the atrocities of the IMN through the ongoing judicial means, and any attempt to fall for the bait mounted through violent street protests to interfere with the legal process would amount to setting a dangerous precedent that would come back to haunt the country in the future.

The Coalition of Ohaneze Youth Groups has given the Federal Government 7-day ultimatum to proscribe the activities of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, nationwide.

The coalition gave the order following the constant violent protest by the sect, which has claimed many lives and government properties.

The group was reacting to the Monday's attack by the Shiite militants on emergency point of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.

Several persons were injured while many vehicles belonging to the agency were set ablaze in the bloody attack.

Addressing a press conference of Monday, the Coalition of Ohaneze Youth Groups an amalgamation of Igbo Youth Groups in Nigeria, affirmed that the Islamic group must be outlawed within seven days.



Comrade Ogbonna Ogbonna, Publicity Secretary, who spoke on behalf of the group, noted that federal government must act now in the interest of Nigerians before it gets too late.

His speech below.


It is instructive to note that the IMN as an organization has displayed violent tendencies in Nigeria as far back as the early ’80s which culminated in the incarceration of its spiritual leader Sheik Ibrahim El-Zarzaky by successive governments for crimes against the state, disregard for constituted authorities and the disruption of public peace.

The IMN carried on with this trend unabated with the active support from the government of Iran and some other extremist organizations that have continually funded their operations in Nigeria since the early ’80s.

The Coalition of Ohaneze Youth Groups having viewed the current situation in Nigeria with regards to the resurgence of the violent activities of the IMN that has led to the death of innocent Nigerians as well as security operatives calls for concern and urgent action from the federal government in the interest of peace and tranquillity.

The IMN cannot continue to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by arrogating the propensity for violence to itself alone, forgetting that the heterogeneous nature of Nigeria and experiences of the past makes each ethic group mutually suspicious and ready to take laws into their hands if the situation arises.

The Coalition of Ohaneze Youth Groups consequently wishes to state that our silence should not be taken for humility, and our respect for the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should equally not be misconstrued as foolishness.

The activities of the IMN has indeed caused countless tears and sorrow to a large population of Nigeria that are law-abiding and steadfast in the belief that Nigeria shall make progress and reclaim its spot in the comity of nations in the world.

The IMN cannot continue to constitute themselves as an executive terror group terrorizing Nigerians and the federal government, and by extension, the Nigerian Police Force would not act proactively towards containing their nefarious activities in the interest of peace and tranquillity in Nigeria.

This is unacceptable and insults to the sensibilities of the millions of Ohaneze Youths in Nigeria who would not hesitate to take up arms and protect the interest of Ohaneze Youths in Nigeria.

This is on the heels that during the period the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu was incarcerated, the Igbo Youths did not take laws into their hands by not constituting themselves to nuisance to public peace in the country.

The actions of the Ohaneze Youths should not be taken for granted by the relevant authorities in Nigeria in the light of the prevailing circumstances that has clearly shown that the IMN group has an agenda to destabilize Nigeria with the active support of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and other terrorist networks around the world.

The Coalition of Ohaneze Youth Groups states in unequivocal terms that the lackadaisical attitude of the federal government in dealing decisively with the IMN terrorist group sends a dangerous signal and if care is not taken might eventually lead to the disintegration of Nigeria.

The IMN has consistently violated all known international laws as regards the protection of human rights and the right to freedom of association of Nigerians regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliations.

The more curious is the fact that the Nigerian government has refused to sever ties with countries that have supported and funded the nefarious activities of IMN. This is suspect and highly unacceptable to the Coalition of Ohaneze Youth Groups.

The Coalition of Ohanaze Youth Groups at this moment states that it would no longer seat and watch as the IMN continues to constitute a threat to the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under whatever guise.

It, therefore, advises the leadership of the IMN to seek legal methods in advancing the case of their leader in line with existing laws in Nigeria, instead of taking the laws into their hands by embarking of violent street protests and other activities that do not augur well for Nigeria and Nigerians.

The Coalition of Ohaneze Youth Groups consequently gives the Federal Government and the Nigerian Police Force a 7-day ultimatum to proscribe the IMN as a terrorist group in line with the avalanche of evidence before the general public.

It wishes to state in unequivocal terms that failure to proscribe the IMN as a terrorist group would leave the Coalition of Ohaneze Youth Groups with no option than to take laws into our hands.

The exigencies of time require that the Federal Government should act proactively if it is desirous of keeping the country united and safe for all concerned. The federal government must act now in the interest of Nigerians before it gets too late.

A word is enough for the wise because the Coalition of Ohaneze Groups would not continue to watch in silence as innocent Nigerians fall victim to the nefarious activities of the IMN and their sponsors.

The 7-day ultimatum given to the Federal Government to proscribe the IMN as a terrorist group stands sacrosanct and must be treated with all seriousness that it truly deserves.