₦airaland Forum

"When he wakes from his languid, lethargic lapse, tell him that while he laidlay, buccaneers made away with two of his daughters and that his household is about to be further depleted by another marauder. Tell him about our angst at the wedding that cost billions, and that all states had to rake in gifts that will not be racked in a lifetime".

"As soon as Umaru wakes up, tell him that for the secluded seasons he has slept, the ship of state has sailed scarily close to a shattering devastation. From the creeks of the Delta to the plains of the Savannah, heavens burst and poor earth is dazed, as bullets, bombs and battalions go blasting; body parts and bones blackened and burning; women and children wailing and weeping; everywhere death and destruction, pealing and reeling"

"The moment Umaru wakes up from his two-year siesta, tell him that the electoral reforms he promised in his inaugural address have been shown to be just another pledge of unredeemed promises; his state of emergency in power, an optical illusion; his 7 point agenda, the biggest joke in pepper-soup joints".

[size=15pt]CBN report[/size]

In a Central Bank of Nigeria document in 2007, then Governor Soludo showed that though most Nigerians are poor, the northern states are more ravaged by poverty. Poverty in Nigeria has a clear northern face as the 10 poorest states in Nigeria are all in the north, with Jigawa State having the terrible record of 95 per cent of its population living in poverty. The Central Bank data also showed that between 1980 and 2004, poverty increased from 13 per cent to 35 per cent of the population of the South-South, 13 per cent to 27 per cent in the South-East, and 13 per cent to 43 per cent in the South-West. Bad as these appalling trends in the south are, the situation in the north is far worse. In the North-Central, poverty ballooned from 36 per cent of the population in 1980, to 72 per cent in 2004. In the North-East, it went from 36 per cent in 1980 to 72 per cent in 2004. For the North-West, the trend was from 38 per cent to 71 per cent. These are frightening trends which have continued unabated. Even The Guardian of August 4, 2009 reported what UNICEF called a 'silent malnutrition emergency' in children in the northern states of Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina, Kano, Adamawa and Gombe. It is this unrelenting poverty and hopelessness which breeds fanaticism and bigotry like those shown by Boko Haram.


http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=100809&ptitle=Caught between <I>Boko Haram</I> and 'Governance <I>Haram</I>'

"Just as soon as the Recluse awakens from his sightless slumber, inform him that the strong-willed one that made Abuja livable for his buccaneer friends and fiends who cannot travel abroad for fear of Interpol, and who cannot go back to their states for fear of lynching is facing trumped-up charges under the ruse of law. Tell him justice is for the highest bidder. Bulkiest, so to say".

[size=20pt]OPINION - The Bauchi carnage and unemployment in the north

By Salisu Suleiman
[/size]
July 28, 2009 04:18PMT
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For most, the recent carnage in Bauchi was just another case of Islamic ‘fundamentalism' or Muslim intolerance, but in reality, the outburst of violence is an explosion of pent up grievances, especially as hunger and unemployment create fertile grounds for unrest.

Just as government neglect of the Niger Delta has spurned the militants to military action, the same issues have ignited anger and the mindless violence that was seen in Bauchi. Religion proved a convenient umbrella for what is in essence, a manifestation of government insensitivity. How many jobs would have been created by the estimated ₦ 3 billion spent on the marriage of Bauchi's Governor Yuguda to Turai's daughter?

At most building sites, majority of unskilled labourers are northerners. The masons, carpenters, iron workers, landscapers, ‘tilers', plumbers and other skilled workers are from elsewhere. Because they lack skills, the northerners are mainly restricted to unskilled manual labour. And these are the lucky ones. Today, a university degree really means nothing.

To train for any kind of profession today, at least a secondary school education is required. Most of those engaged in violence do not have even that basic requirement. Many with secondary school certificates can hardly express themselves, not to talk of reading, writing and making use of English as a working language.

The skills needed to engage in a trade are not inherited; they are acquired. How many states and local government areas in the north have meaningful vocational skills development agencies that produce qualified builders, plumbers, masons, carpenters, etc? One of the most tragic developments in the recent past was the massive procurement and distribution of millions of motorcycles in the name of poverty eradication. The mass numbers of deaths and injuries resulting from these so-called poverty eradication projects is proof that you cannot ride away poverty.

Since the region's elite are totally disconnected from the problem of unemployment, is it any wonder that conflicts in the name of religion and ethnicity continue to occur, leading to the mindless slaughter of thousands of innocent lives? There are many ethnic groups and religions living side by side in the South, but because these people are meaningfully engaged in one form of productive activity or the other, they are less susceptible to mindless violence.

The prospects are truly scary if one considers the number of ‘Almajirai' being churned out yearly from schools in the north. These graduates can read and write in Arabic and are versed in the various sections of Islamic education. However, they have virtually no practical skills they can rely on to earn a living.

Even the traditional haven of farming has changed. Due to inheritance, some farmlands have been so sub divided that it no longer makes economic sense to farm. The result is that these Almajirai troop to towns and cities to become itinerant manicurists, shoe shiners, commercial motorcyclists, mobile tailors, barbers, waste bin scavengers, etc.

As it were, the job of ‘Maigadi' and gatemen, which used to be an exclusive preserve of northerners is now under threat with the growth of private security firms which only employ people with secondary school certificates. (Some graduates even hide their university degrees to enable them get work with private security firms).

For the northerner, who against all odds struggles to acquire a university education, his chances of gaining employment are hardly better. The traditional resort has always been the civil service. But now, even that is prone to stiff competition as the public sector cannot employ everybody.

The engine room for economic activity needed to generate employment is the private sector. But does the north have a private sector? Most businesses in the region are almost entirely dependent on government patronage. Without government contracts, they will fold up because they are hardly engaged in any productive activity. For the brave entrepreneur who strives to create jobs, there is hardly any support coming his way, even in professional fields.

The typical northern elite are selfish beyond belief and I say this with all sense of responsibility. For the vast majority of northern elite in positions of authority, a well-educated young northerner is a treat. Not only will they refuse to help advance his career, they often go out of their ways to destroy or discredit them.

Many professionals of northern extract will testify to this fact. Is it any wonder that despite hullabaloo of federal character, the North still accounts for less than a quarter of the federal civil service?

What the northern elite is failing to realise is that unemployment is the greatest threat to the security and stability of the region today. Even without the current global economic crisis, the north was basically hostage to the oil economy.

When acclaimed business centres like Kano have to wait for federal allocations every month to pay workers salaries, which state in the North can be said to be economically viable? Is it Yobe, Sokoto or Plateau?

To make matters worse, banking - which is the engine room of every economy is a Southern affair. There is practically no bank in the north. Because one can point to a bank or two with minor northern ownership or management does not change that fact.

No economy can survive without efficient banking systems. That is why the government of the US, UK and many other advanced economies are spending trillions of dollars to shore up their banking systems and prevent them from collapse.

The problem of unemployment in the North is on a par with the situation in the Niger Delta. The only difference is that rather than kidnap foreigners, the army of unemployed youth in the North would be forced to kidnap the wives and children of the elite or even Sarakuna, (Emirs) who rightly or wrongly are seen as responsible for the region's decay.

As poverty engulfs the region, the tendency for social conflict under the guise of religion would grow. And it is only a matter of time before the teeming, angry youths of the North realise that the problem is not the innocent Christian or Muslim who just wants to carry on with life, but the region's ruling elite who live in the secluded mansions behind the very high fences of houses in exclusive areas. They may need to make their fences higher, or begin to find solutions to the region's unemployment. Bauchi was just a warning.

http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/SalisuSuleiman/5439312-179/OPINION_-_The_Bauchi_carnage_and.csp

[size=20pt]Who will bear this burden

By Salisu Suleiman
[/size]

July 20, 2009 11:17AMT
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I was a land of tall trees and vast veldts, of raging rivers and soaking springs, of proud women and courageous men. I was the bastion that bared my back to bear the baton of my race in the race of sovereignties. But once on my back, the baton became a burden. Who will bear the burden?

From a lighthouse of hope, I am now a landscape of iniquity. My people, all 150 million, bear burdens that have left them bent and beggarly, bereft of hope, bogged by visions they bought-in and believed in. That burden is the greatest burden in the world. It is the burden of leadership. Where are the ones to bear this burden?

My back is bent, my head bowed and my feet bandied, but the burden only gets bulkier with each passing era. The burden I bear has no vision; no direction; it cannot see my misery; it cannot hear my cry; it cannot feel my pain and it cannot sense my anger. I fear that I may not carry on much longer; it may be my heartrending legacy. Who will help my offspring bear this burden?

In this land of heart-wrenching pains, people still carry in their heads visions of unfulfilled dreams and the weight of a thousand broken promises. But even in this depths of despair, they can sight no site to sigh in silence. Not with a million contraptions churning out the cacophonic clatter and the cocktail of death inducing fumes of Individual Power Generation.

Never mind. That is the least of the burdens I bear. I bear the heaviest burden on God's earth, but cannot cry out for He has given me more than a fair share of what is needed to transform my landscape. So I hide my face in the presence of less endowed friends, and pretend that all is well. But I need help to bear this debilitating burden.

I have rich land and plenty of water, but I am fed by countries that have none of that; most of my people are farmers, but cannot use a tenth of my land; I have the largest government Africa, but the worst governance in the world; I have trained a million doctors, but none work in my hospitals; I have professors in every field, but they train the children of other lands. Who will bear the burden of their tomorrows?

Who will help me bear the burden of roads that cannot be driven on; water that is laced with disease; rivers that are glazed with waste; a mighty desert on a southward march; millions of people with no work to do; elected officials that steal us blind and their unelected relatives that rob us, rub our faces in the muck then mock us. Who will bear the burden of a billion dollars brokered and bound for distant lands?

The heaviest of my burdens is the colorless Recluse of the Seven Points with no agenda, though we did not place the burden on him. We knew his head was too frail, his perspective too regional, his dreams too constrained; his capacity too inadequate; his familial control, too loose. Our fate lie with the motley who say they are Africa's biggest; but have reduced governance to a banal cabal who only pledge the perpetual pillaging of public property for private purpose. Dear God, who will help us bear this burden?

A million of my people die each year for want of basic healthcare. My schools every year churn and turn out a million illiterates. My myriads of black robes and white wigs know nothing about law, and even less about justice. My leaders cut out huge chunks of my ancestral lands to impress the white man, then plunder my possessions to place in his vaults. Who will bear the burden of the man who gives meat to the hyena for safe-keeping?

The agony of my people can find no lexis; the depths of their sorrow, no expression; the betrayal of a generation, no justification. Theirs is a burden of leadership that seeks to grow hatred in hearts, illiteracy in heads and poverty in lives to maintain a heartless hegemony over the people of this once great land, and over their offspring. Where are the ones to bear this crushing burden?

Who will tell the burdens on our heads that all we want is opportunity for honest work to feed our families and train our children, markets for our farm produce, hospitals when ill, roads on which to travel and security of life and property? But even these basics are too much to expect. We get none of these, just the constant weight of a back-breaking burden that is Nigeria's tragedy of leadership. Who will help us bear this burden?

After these long decades, our backs are broken, our dreams stolen, our resolve molten. Where are those to relieve us of this burden? Who will tell my people that dying in silence would be a greater betrayal of this once proud land? Where are those to bear the burden of true liberation?

Where are the men of courage to declare that the time has come be rid of the monstrous burden of a despotic, directionless and diabolic leadership? Where are the braves to confront the tragedy of tyranny that has been our lot and restore this land to its ultimate destiny? Where are those to bear this burden?

http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5437696-184/Who_will_bear_this_burden_.csp

[size=20pt]OMOIGUI: These tax methods are oppressive

By Salisu Suleiman
[/size]
July 16, 2009 12:08PMT
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At a business centre in Abuja recently, officials of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) stormed in, almost commando style to demand for tax documents. The reaction of the owner, as well as other people at the business centre said it all. I know for sure that if there were firearms anywhere close, they would have been used. And the FIRS would have been at the receiving end.

The harried owner of the business centre, struggling with the burden of running the place permanently on generators; struggling with exorbitant rents; struggling to pay salaries; struggling to keep the place open for one day at a time, and indeed, struggling just to survive in Nigeria's dreadful business environment would have snapped and done something terrible. And every witness in that business centre would have testified in any court that it was a case of temporary insanity. (Though the business environment in Nigeria is permanently insane!).

The economic foundation of most modern states is based on taxation, which is a compulsory levy imposed by government on the income, capital or consumption of its citizens for the purpose of raising revenue to provide basic and essential amenities and services to the entire citizens of that country.

Its imposition is backed up by Law and it also has punitive measures for all defaulters. Taxation is part of a country's fiscal policy and used the world over as an important macro-economic tool to achieve objectives like controlling inflation, fighting poverty, unemployment, maintaining economic stability and ensuring economic growth.

But that is for sane economies. In a country like Nigeria where every economic theory is turned on its head, where the virtues of good governance do not exist and where public resources are looted with impunity, to begin to harass struggling entrepreneurs like the owner of the business centre (and many small struggling businesses) in the name of taxation may be counter-productive to economic growth, and further worsen unemployment.

Where are the basic and essential amenities and services like roads, power, schools, hospitals, water etc that tax revenues are supposed to provide? In proper democracies where citizens pay taxes, government is concerned with the generation, aggregation and optimization of resources to improve the lot of citizens, facilitate access to social infrastructure and the judicious use of public funds to invest in projects and programs that would improve the lives citizens.

But that is not the case in Nigeria. In the 2009 appropriation, trillions of naira would be spent but at the end of the year, it would be difficult to see where those monies have gone. School pupils still study under trees.

Women and children still have to trudge for miles in search of water. Youth cannot gain admission to schools or find jobs. Public transport is pre-colonial. Neglected farmers cannot get their produce to the markets.

Today, there are areas in Nigeria that cannot be reached by any form of motor vehicle; emergency cases are transported to clinics on donkeys or motorcycles; boreholes do not have water; many people die from preventable diseases like malaria, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and meningitis; there are mountains of refuse and clogged drainages all over the country. So what happens to paid taxes?

It is true that the fall in revenue accruing to the public sector occasioned by falling oil prices mean that government must make constructive fiscal policies. But how can those policies be achieved when small businesses become the target of oppressive taxes? How can a beauty salon owner pay taxes when 50 percent of her resources are spent to run the business on generators? Government should ask if there fundamental are principles of prudence guiding the determination of taxation necessary to promote economic growth and reducing poverty.

Government intervention in the economy should be predicated on the need to ensure steady or stable economic growth. It should aim to harness available resources in a comprehensive and coordinated manner to hasten the pace of development and lessen the misallocation of present and future stock of resources; and the existence of public goods and externalities must provide an economic rationale for the range of activities undertaken by the government.

Government policies should influence macro-economic conditions. These policies affect tax rates, interest rates and government spending in an effort to control the economy. Federal taxation and spending should be designed to level out the business circle and achieve full employment, price stability and sustained growth in the economy.

Thus fiscal policy should aim to stimulate demand and output in the current period of business decline by increasing government purchases and cutting taxes to release more disposable income into the spending stream and to correct overexpansion by reversing the process.

Fiscal policy is manifested in a government's policies on taxation and expenditures to not only provide goods and services for constituents, but with direct impact on the economy such as in promoting economic growth and reducing poverty.

All over the world, the goals of fiscal policy are the same and can be summarized to include (1) Employment creation ; (2) Price stability in the economy; (3) Curbing inflation; (4) External equilibrium; (5) Economic growth and development and; (6) Income distribution.


I hear that the FIRS is guaranteed a certain percentage of collected taxes, and its zeal in that respect is understandable. But when taxes become oppressive, the already battered economy would worsen.

Government should pursue and ensure fiscal discipline and responsibility otherwise it would be unable to defeat the challenge of poverty, unemployment and to stimulate economic growth. Nigerians are willing to pay taxes, but only when corruption is crucified and transparency and accountability resurrected, to permit that expression.

Madam Omoigui may mean well with her mighty intellect and iron determination, but remember, even the ultimate Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher was ultimately crushed by oppressive taxation.


Suleiman is a doctoral student at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria

http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5437168-184/OMOIGUI:_These_tax_methods_are_oppressive.csp

[size=20pt]OPINION - The Bauchi carnage and unemployment in the north

By Salisu Suleiman[/size]

July 28, 2009 04:18PMT
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For most, the recent carnage in Bauchi was just another case of Islamic ‘fundamentalism' or Muslim intolerance, but in reality, the outburst of violence is an explosion of pent up grievances, especially as hunger and unemployment create fertile grounds for unrest.

Just as government neglect of the Niger Delta has spurned the militants to military action, the same issues have ignited anger and the mindless violence that was seen in Bauchi. Religion proved a convenient umbrella for what is in essence, a manifestation of government insensitivity. How many jobs would have been created by the estimated ₦ 3 billion spent on the marriage of Bauchi's Governor Yuguda to Turai's daughter?

At most building sites, majority of unskilled labourers are northerners. The masons, carpenters, iron workers, landscapers, ‘tilers', plumbers and other skilled workers are from elsewhere. Because they lack skills, the northerners are mainly restricted to unskilled manual labour. And these are the lucky ones. Today, a university degree really means nothing.

To train for any kind of profession today, at least a secondary school education is required. Most of those engaged in violence do not have even that basic requirement. Many with secondary school certificates can hardly express themselves, not to talk of reading, writing and making use of English as a working language.

The skills needed to engage in a trade are not inherited; they are acquired. How many states and local government areas in the north have meaningful vocational skills development agencies that produce qualified builders, plumbers, masons, carpenters, etc? One of the most tragic developments in the recent past was the massive procurement and distribution of millions of motorcycles in the name of poverty eradication. The mass numbers of deaths and injuries resulting from these so-called poverty eradication projects is proof that you cannot ride away poverty.

Since the region's elite are totally disconnected from the problem of unemployment, is it any wonder that conflicts in the name of religion and ethnicity continue to occur, leading to the mindless slaughter of thousands of innocent lives? There are many ethnic groups and religions living side by side in the South, but because these people are meaningfully engaged in one form of productive activity or the other, they are less susceptible to mindless violence.

The prospects are truly scary if one considers the number of ‘Almajirai' being churned out yearly from schools in the north. These graduates can read and write in Arabic and are versed in the various sections of Islamic education. However, they have virtually no practical skills they can rely on to earn a living.

Even the traditional haven of farming has changed. Due to inheritance, some farmlands have been so sub divided that it no longer makes economic sense to farm. The result is that these Almajirai troop to towns and cities to become itinerant manicurists, shoe shiners, commercial motorcyclists, mobile tailors, barbers, waste bin scavengers, etc.

As it were, the job of ‘Maigadi' and gatemen, which used to be an exclusive preserve of northerners is now under threat with the growth of private security firms which only employ people with secondary school certificates. (Some graduates even hide their university degrees to enable them get work with private security firms).

For the northerner, who against all odds struggles to acquire a university education, his chances of gaining employment are hardly better. The traditional resort has always been the civil service. But now, even that is prone to stiff competition as the public sector cannot employ everybody.

The engine room for economic activity needed to generate employment is the private sector. But does the north have a private sector? Most businesses in the region are almost entirely dependent on government patronage. Without government contracts, they will fold up because they are hardly engaged in any productive activity. For the brave entrepreneur who strives to create jobs, there is hardly any support coming his way, even in professional fields.

The typical northern elite are selfish beyond belief and I say this with all sense of responsibility. For the vast majority of northern elite in positions of authority, a well-educated young northerner is a treat. Not only will they refuse to help advance his career, they often go out of their ways to destroy or discredit them.

Many professionals of northern extract will testify to this fact. Is it any wonder that despite hullabaloo of federal character, the North still accounts for less than a quarter of the federal civil service?

What the northern elite is failing to realise is that unemployment is the greatest threat to the security and stability of the region today. Even without the current global economic crisis, the north was basically hostage to the oil economy.

When acclaimed business centres like Kano have to wait for federal allocations every month to pay workers salaries, which state in the North can be said to be economically viable? Is it Yobe, Sokoto or Plateau?

To make matters worse, banking - which is the engine room of every economy is a Southern affair. There is practically no bank in the north. Because one can point to a bank or two with minor northern ownership or management does not change that fact.

No economy can survive without efficient banking systems. That is why the government of the US, UK and many other advanced economies are spending trillions of dollars to shore up their banking systems and prevent them from collapse.

The problem of unemployment in the North is on a par with the situation in the Niger Delta. The only difference is that rather than kidnap foreigners, the army of unemployed youth in the North would be forced to kidnap the wives and children of the elite or even Sarakuna, (Emirs) who rightly or wrongly are seen as responsible for the region's decay.

As poverty engulfs the region, the tendency for social conflict under the guise of religion would grow. And it is only a matter of time before the teeming, angry youths of the North realise that the problem is not the innocent Christian or Muslim who just wants to carry on with life, but the region's ruling elite who live in the secluded mansions behind the very high fences of houses in exclusive areas. They may need to make their fences higher, or begin to find solutions to the region's unemployment. Bauchi was just a warning.

http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5439312-184/OPINION_-_The_Bauchi_carnage_and.csp

[size=20pt]Turai, the real cancer is poverty

By Salisu Suleiman[/size]

August 3, 2009 07:56PMT
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All records for public donations in Nigeria were shattered recently when over N10 billion was donated to the Turai Yar'adua International Cancer Centre. Unfortunately, the entire process missed the point. The worst killer disease in Nigeria today is not cancer, but poverty. Solve poverty, and most forms of cancers would vanish.

Cancer is a truly frightening disease that kills millions yearly, and every effort should be made to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease. Further research into cancer, especially in the light of African experience is encouraged and commended. But the deadliest form of cancer in Nigeria today is the cancer of poverty; cancer may kill the person, poverty will kill the country.

While the ethical base of donating nearly $100 million dollars to the First Lady's pet project remains in question, it is worth remembering that job creation features in President Yar'adua's agenda. But how many jobs has this administration created? What strategies have been put in place to help mitigate the effects of poverty in Nigeria?

The idea of a cancer centre is welcome, even desirable. But what about the cancer of poverty and hopelessness that is present in most homes, and indeed a major cause of the real cancer? Do the poor have hope? Does the government even have a current data base of unemployed Nigerians? Who cares that many employed people are in the cold, crushing clutches of poverty?

Nothing justifies the spate of armed robbery and violence we have seen of late, but they are no doubt linked to poverty and the loss of hope. When university graduates, retired (and even serving) members of the security forces and others are forced into a life of crime due to poverty, what form of cancer can be worse?

If Turai is serious about tackling cancer in Nigeria, she must focus on the level of poverty in the country. She must influence government to introduce a social welfare programme which provides a sustenance allowance to the poor and unemployed. It is NOT too much for Nigeria to issue a monthly stipend of N3,000 to every unemployed Nigerian. This may seem like a laughable amount, but for many, it may be the difference between life and death.

But beyond the development of a social security net is the question of how governments can actually create employment. It is a fact that government cannot employ everyone in the country, even if it had the resources, but when money is channeled to the right sectors of the economy, particularly infrastructure, then millions of jobs can created at the same time that infrastructure is being developed.

Recently, the Federal Government announced award of infrastructure contracts totaling about N1 trillion. But in real terms, how many jobs will these contracts create for the Nigerian economy? Government must introduce other considerations in award of contracts, and identify the bids that create permanent jobs.
Experience shows that growth is the most powerful weapon in the fight against poverty because it creates jobs that use labour, the main asset of the poor. As growth proceeds, private sector employment becomes the major source of economic support for the majority of workers and their families. Just getting food to eat would improve personal immunity and banish many forms of cancers from these families.
The informal sector forms a large part of the Nigerian economy. It comprises 42 percent of value added in Africa, 41 percent in Latin America and 35 percent in the transition economies of Europe and the former Soviet Union. The informal economy provides employment and income for many who lose or cannot find work in the formal economy, and includes a disproportionate number of women, young people and others from disadvantaged groups. It is estimated that informal employment accounts for 84 percent of women's employment in sub-Saharan Africa. Help these women, Turai, and they would not need to visit your cancer centre.

While the informal economy has helped to engage many people in one form economic activity or the other, its prevalence has also limited the growth of the formal private sector. Consequently, for the private sector to deliver pro-poor growth, five interlinked and mutually complimentary factors need to be put in place.

These are:
(1) Providing incentives for entrepreneurship and investment.
(2) Increasing productivity through competition and innovation.
(3) Harnessing international economic linkages through trade and investment.
(4) Improving market access and functioning; and
(5) Reducing risk and vulnerability.
In the wake of the current global economic crisis, there has been renewed appreciation of the private sector's development role as an engine of growth. Experience has shown that, when properly regulated and operating under competitive market conditions, the private sector can generally use resources more efficiently than the public sector. Private sector entities can deliver goods and services to meet growing demands and create job opportunities in the process.
Turai, fight cancer by helping government reduce barriers to formalisation and introduce poverty alleviation strategies to make it easier for businesses to migrate from the informal to the formal sector. The norm has been to procure and distribute motorcycles to multitudes of youth in the name of poverty alleviation. The only people whose poverty is being eradicated are the Chinese producers and suppliers of those motorcycles.

While the Nigerian ruling elite often find it much easier to plunder public resources and invest abroad, the fact remains that investing at home would lead to employment generation, poverty alleviation and the emergence of a viable middle class. The security and stability of the country may depend on how well the private sector is developed, and how poverty is tackled.

Unless all stakeholders put in place measures to develop and engage the country's vast human resources endowments in various sectors of the economy on a truly epic scale, poverty in Nigeria would ultimately threaten national cohesion and security. That is the deadliest form of cancer, and that is where Turai's billions should be directed. If there is no kingdom, there can be no queen.

source:http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5441042-184/Turai,_the_real_cancer_is_poverty.csp

[size=20pt]The African Marketplace

Salisu Suleiman
[/size]
July 24, 2009 06:26PMT
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I have not been to the market in quite a while. I have left that duty to others in my household. After all, I believe in devolution and delegation, especially of disagreeable duties.

And since the chore of shopping wasn't one I was sure of, I gladly left that chop to others. Mine is to eat what they bought from the market and cooked. I refuse to delegate that.

And so it was that for a many a year, I had no idea what it was like to be in the marketplace. Until that fateful day that is, when my sister insisted that I accompany her to the market.

Since she was not a person to whom you could say no, I tagged along with a reluctant heart and two shuffling feet. I followed her to the market.

After all these years, not much has changed. The approaches to the market are as usual crowded by the itinerant peddlers, trying to out shout themselves in an effort to be heard above the din.

Every inch of space was covered by goods competing for space with a thousand human feet, the wheel barrows of today's bearers and the trays of hawkers.

From every direction, I was assaulted by an assorted aroma of smells, some mildly familiar, some unpleasant and others still, distinctly nasty.

With that, and the mush-mush of the muddy mains, the mish-mash of market stalls and strong throng of energetic humanity, I knew I was in an African market-place.

But as I began to look closely at the goods on display, I saw that the only things on sale that were African were the perishables - fresh vegetables, fruits and a few other goods that could not be returned home after a day's sojourn in the marketplace.

They had to be sold, or otherwise disposed because of their perishable nature. That would explain the aggressive marketing of the sellers; sell or starve.

Every where I looked in this African marketplace, all I saw were things made in China.

The handkerchief I use to wipe my brow; the cotton buds I use to clean my ear; the toothpicks I use to pick my teeth - every daily tool from the mundane to the indispensable; electric bulbs, needles, cloth pegs, transistor radios, cooking ware, shoes, bags, vests and underwear, screwdrivers and other household appliances, floor mops, brooms, candles, the list is endless.

As we moved through the shops in the market, I looked for signs of goods made in Nigeria, or even any country in Africa, with little success.

At the clothing store, everything from socks, pajamas, shirts, vests, shoes, sandals, ‘gelabas' and many more all came from China.

I do not recall seeing anything made in my country in that shop in this African market, and very little from any other country as well, just China.

At the electronics store, the story was the same. Computers, printers, telephone sets, radios, VCDs and DVDs, standing and ceiling fans, air conditioners, refrigerators, cooking ovens, bathroom water heaters, blenders, electric kettles, lightings, lamp holders, electric fittings, voltage stabilizers, power inverters, wall clocks, adapters and indeed, just about everything else on display. I doubt if any Made-in-China trade fair could have done any better.

The motorcycles that conveyed goods and passengers to and from the market were Chinese. The trucks that conveyed the bulkier items carried a bland Chinese logo.

The goods being bought and sold were mostly Chinese, and naturally, the profits of the trade flowed back to China. The only thing absent from this marketplace in Africa was Mandarin.

My trip to the market was a lesson in contemporary African economy. In today's African marketplace, the throngs may be African, the peddlers African, the smells African and the atmosphere African, but none of the things on sale are African. Everything is made in China.

After my trip to the marketplace, I settled down for a meal of rice that at least wasn't Chinese; this was Thai.

After I finished my meal with a big belch, I saw staring at me from my dish, the symbol of the new African marketplace: Made in China.

source:http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5438726-184/The_African_Marketplace___.csp

[size=15pt]OPINION - The Bauchi carnage and unemployment in the north

By Salisu Suleiman[/size]

July 28, 2009 04:18PMT
Print print Email email Share Share


For most, the recent carnage in Bauchi was just another case of Islamic ‘fundamentalism' or Muslim intolerance, but in reality, the outburst of violence is an explosion of pent up grievances, especially as hunger and unemployment create fertile grounds for unrest.

Just as government neglect of the Niger Delta has spurned the militants to military action, the same issues have ignited anger and the mindless violence that was seen in Bauchi. Religion proved a convenient umbrella for what is in essence, a manifestation of government insensitivity. How many jobs would have been created by the estimated ₦ 3 billion spent on the marriage of Bauchi's Governor Yuguda to Turai's daughter?

At most building sites, majority of unskilled labourers are northerners. The masons, carpenters, iron workers, landscapers, ‘tilers', plumbers and other skilled workers are from elsewhere. Because they lack skills, the northerners are mainly restricted to unskilled manual labour. And these are the lucky ones. Today, a university degree really means nothing.

To train for any kind of profession today, at least a secondary school education is required. Most of those engaged in violence do not have even that basic requirement. Many with secondary school certificates can hardly express themselves, not to talk of reading, writing and making use of English as a working language.

The skills needed to engage in a trade are not inherited; they are acquired. How many states and local government areas in the north have meaningful vocational skills development agencies that produce qualified builders, plumbers, masons, carpenters, etc? One of the most tragic developments in the recent past was the massive procurement and distribution of millions of motorcycles in the name of poverty eradication. The mass numbers of deaths and injuries resulting from these so-called poverty eradication projects is proof that you cannot ride away poverty.

Since the region's elite are totally disconnected from the problem of unemployment, is it any wonder that conflicts in the name of religion and ethnicity continue to occur, leading to the mindless slaughter of thousands of innocent lives? There are many ethnic groups and religions living side by side in the South, but because these people are meaningfully engaged in one form of productive activity or the other, they are less susceptible to mindless violence.

The prospects are truly scary if one considers the number of ‘Almajirai' being churned out yearly from schools in the north. These graduates can read and write in Arabic and are versed in the various sections of Islamic education. However, they have virtually no practical skills they can rely on to earn a living.

Even the traditional haven of farming has changed. Due to inheritance, some farmlands have been so sub divided that it no longer makes economic sense to farm. The result is that these Almajirai troop to towns and cities to become itinerant manicurists, shoe shiners, commercial motorcyclists, mobile tailors, barbers, waste bin scavengers, etc.

As it were, the job of ‘Maigadi' and gatemen, which used to be an exclusive preserve of northerners is now under threat with the growth of private security firms which only employ people with secondary school certificates. (Some graduates even hide their university degrees to enable them get work with private security firms).

For the northerner, who against all odds struggles to acquire a university education, his chances of gaining employment are hardly better. The traditional resort has always been the civil service. But now, even that is prone to stiff competition as the public sector cannot employ everybody.

The engine room for economic activity needed to generate employment is the private sector. But does the north have a private sector? Most businesses in the region are almost entirely dependent on government patronage. Without government contracts, they will fold up because they are hardly engaged in any productive activity. For the brave entrepreneur who strives to create jobs, there is hardly any support coming his way, even in professional fields.

The typical northern elite are selfish beyond belief and I say this with all sense of responsibility. For the vast majority of northern elite in positions of authority, a well-educated young northerner is a treat. Not only will they refuse to help advance his career, they often go out of their ways to destroy or discredit them.

Many professionals of northern extract will testify to this fact. Is it any wonder that despite hullabaloo of federal character, the North still accounts for less than a quarter of the federal civil service?

What the northern elite is failing to realise is that unemployment is the greatest threat to the security and stability of the region today. Even without the current global economic crisis, the north was basically hostage to the oil economy.

When acclaimed business centres like Kano have to wait for federal allocations every month to pay workers salaries, which state in the North can be said to be economically viable? Is it Yobe, Sokoto or Plateau?

To make matters worse, banking - which is the engine room of every economy is a Southern affair. There is practically no bank in the north. Because one can point to a bank or two with minor northern ownership or management does not change that fact.

No economy can survive without efficient banking systems. That is why the government of the US, UK and many other advanced economies are spending trillions of dollars to shore up their banking systems and prevent them from collapse.

The problem of unemployment in the North is on a par with the situation in the Niger Delta. The only difference is that rather than kidnap foreigners, the army of unemployed youth in the North would be forced to kidnap the wives and children of the elite or even Sarakuna, (Emirs) who rightly or wrongly are seen as responsible for the region's decay.

As poverty engulfs the region, the tendency for social conflict under the guise of religion would grow. And it is only a matter of time before the teeming, angry youths of the North realise that the problem is not the innocent Christian or Muslim who just wants to carry on with life, but the region's ruling elite who live in the secluded mansions behind the very high fences of houses in exclusive areas. They may need to make their fences higher, or begin to find solutions to the region's unemployment. Bauchi was just a warning.

source:http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5439312-184/OPINION_-_The_Bauchi_carnage_and.csp

May be Yaraslow would wakes up after the end of second term

[size=20pt]When Umaru wakes up [/size]

Salisu Sulaiman


When Umaru wakes up from his soulless, shackled sleep, say to him that the ship of state is on fire and that he should scamper for dear life. Tell him that for two years, the alarm bells have been blaring, the voices of 140 million compatriots screaming, and the entire world joining to shake him awake, but all have got only got the stony silence of indifference.

As soon as Umaru wakes up, tell him that for the secluded seasons he has slept, the ship of state has sailed scarily close to a shattering devastation. From the creeks of the Delta to the plains of the Savannah, heavens burst and poor earth is dazed, as bullets, bombs and battalions go blasting; body parts and bones blackened and burning; women and children wailing and weeping; everywhere death and destruction, pealing and reeling.

Inform Umaru that while he slept the sleep of the blind and the deaf, his smugness buried the bonds of brotherhood and interred our national fabric in the hell holes of hatred. Tell him our liberties are blinded and bonded to the banks of a brooding bay. Everywhere is darkness, hunger, unemployment and mass nibbling by the mice in the Master Cabin.

When he wakes from his languid, lethargic lapse, tell him that while he laidlay, buccaneers made away with two of his daughters and that his household is about to be further depleted by another marauder. Tell him about our angst at the wedding that cost billions, and that all states had to rake in gifts that will not be racked in a lifetime.

The moment Umaru wakes up from his two-year siesta, tell him that the electoral reforms he promised in his inaugural address have been shown to be just another pledge of unredeemed promises; his state of emergency in power, an optical illusion; his 7 point agenda, the biggest joke in pepper-soup joints.

When slow-motion Umaru drags himself up from his snooze, tell him that the corruption war, if selectively pursued by his predecessor, has been completely abandoned. Tell him that for daring to reject a mountain of dollars 15 million high, one of the champions of our times has been chased out of the police, and run out of the country. Shame on them who slight all semblance of simple sense.

Don't forget to tell him when he awakes from his chartless, careless catnap that his rule of law mantra has been found to be the biggest ruse in the country's political history. All those who believed it have been terribly short-changed, and now rue the ruse in the rule. Tell Umaru that the brigandage in Ekiti demonstrated that though sound asleep, his signature was stamped all over the entire sham that took ten thousand police to steal a hundred thousand votes.

Just as soon as the Recluse awakens from his sightless slumber, inform him that the strong-willed one that made Abuja livable for his buccaneer friends and fiends who cannot travel abroad for fear of Interpol, and who cannot go back to their states for fear of lynching is facing trumped-up charges under the ruse of law. Tell him justice is for the highest bidder. Bulkiest, so to say.

Tell the Slumberer-in-Chief that while he was dizzy, madam has been busy; the enormous appetite she is said to possess and consequently, the colossal capital she is claimed to have cornered. Mention also about the vast killing she is said to have made on naira devaluation with a drowned pirate who held fort at the central vaults. Remind him that prodigal nature will take us all away and the billions will of no use to the dead.

Do not forget to mention to Umaru when he wakes up from the sleep the unhearing, the unseeing and the unfeeling that the entire public university system has shut down. Inform him that even as this was going on, his fifty-something- year- old minister of education broke MC Hammer's record on gyrations. As an aside, ask him if he has children in public schools.

Tell Umaru that everyday, the blood of our countrymen drain our highways, as body parts are hacked out of vehicles from accidents that occur because roads do not exist. Tell him that the craters he met have changed to crevasses. Wonder aloud about the whereabouts of a certain Mr. Fix It. We hear he has been handsomely re-armed to fix the ports.

If Umaru raises even an eyelid, tell him that his sheep have abandoned ship, and that he is all on his own in this phantom ship. Tell him that hiding his head like the ostrich in the ground and pretending to sleep will not make the challenges go away. Tell him that his Seven Points resemble the Seven Voyages of Captain Sinbad - interesting, intriguing, engaging, and a voucher to human aspirations for struggle and self improvement - but ultimately, a work of fiction.

Tell him that unlike the great adventurer, he has not been at the helm of the Nigerian voyage, just a tired, seasick deck-hand. Energy, agriculture, education, wealth creation (whatever that means), land reforms, health and transport; all we see is a badly written work of fiction. But tell him that the pain we feel, the poverty we see, the misery and the tragedy we live with are not fictional, but real.

Tell him that since he has no clues about governance, no courage to accept failure and no visions about our future, he should stop pretending to be asleep. Just tell him to carry his sleeping mat and leave the Villa. Then perhaps, Nigeria might awaken from the unending nightmare.

source:http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5439603-184/When_Umaru_wakes_up.csp

[size=15pt]OPINION - The Bauchi carnage and unemployment in the north

By Salisu Suleiman[/size]

July 28, 2009 04:18PMT
Print print Email email Share Share


For most, the recent carnage in Bauchi was just another case of Islamic ‘fundamentalism' or Muslim intolerance, but in reality, the outburst of violence is an explosion of pent up grievances, especially as hunger and unemployment create fertile grounds for unrest.

Just as government neglect of the Niger Delta has spurned the militants to military action, the same issues have ignited anger and the mindless violence that was seen in Bauchi. Religion proved a convenient umbrella for what is in essence, a manifestation of government insensitivity. How many jobs would have been created by the estimated ₦ 3 billion spent on the marriage of Bauchi's Governor Yuguda to Turai's daughter?

At most building sites, majority of unskilled labourers are northerners. The masons, carpenters, iron workers, landscapers, ‘tilers', plumbers and other skilled workers are from elsewhere. Because they lack skills, the northerners are mainly restricted to unskilled manual labour. And these are the lucky ones. Today, a university degree really means nothing.

To train for any kind of profession today, at least a secondary school education is required. Most of those engaged in violence do not have even that basic requirement. Many with secondary school certificates can hardly express themselves, not to talk of reading, writing and making use of English as a working language.

The skills needed to engage in a trade are not inherited; they are acquired. How many states and local government areas in the north have meaningful vocational skills development agencies that produce qualified builders, plumbers, masons, carpenters, etc? One of the most tragic developments in the recent past was the massive procurement and distribution of millions of motorcycles in the name of poverty eradication. The mass numbers of deaths and injuries resulting from these so-called poverty eradication projects is proof that you cannot ride away poverty.

Since the region's elite are totally disconnected from the problem of unemployment, is it any wonder that conflicts in the name of religion and ethnicity continue to occur, leading to the mindless slaughter of thousands of innocent lives? There are many ethnic groups and religions living side by side in the South, but because these people are meaningfully engaged in one form of productive activity or the other, they are less susceptible to mindless violence.

The prospects are truly scary if one considers the number of ‘Almajirai' being churned out yearly from schools in the north. These graduates can read and write in Arabic and are versed in the various sections of Islamic education. However, they have virtually no practical skills they can rely on to earn a living.

Even the traditional haven of farming has changed. Due to inheritance, some farmlands have been so sub divided that it no longer makes economic sense to farm. The result is that these Almajirai troop to towns and cities to become itinerant manicurists, shoe shiners, commercial motorcyclists, mobile tailors, barbers, waste bin scavengers, etc.

As it were, the job of ‘Maigadi' and gatemen, which used to be an exclusive preserve of northerners is now under threat with the growth of private security firms which only employ people with secondary school certificates. (Some graduates even hide their university degrees to enable them get work with private security firms).

For the northerner, who against all odds struggles to acquire a university education, his chances of gaining employment are hardly better. The traditional resort has always been the civil service. But now, even that is prone to stiff competition as the public sector cannot employ everybody.

The engine room for economic activity needed to generate employment is the private sector. But does the north have a private sector? Most businesses in the region are almost entirely dependent on government patronage. Without government contracts, they will fold up because they are hardly engaged in any productive activity. For the brave entrepreneur who strives to create jobs, there is hardly any support coming his way, even in professional fields.

The typical northern elite are selfish beyond belief and I say this with all sense of responsibility. For the vast majority of northern elite in positions of authority, a well-educated young northerner is a treat. Not only will they refuse to help advance his career, they often go out of their ways to destroy or discredit them.

Many professionals of northern extract will testify to this fact. Is it any wonder that despite hullabaloo of federal character, the North still accounts for less than a quarter of the federal civil service?

What the northern elite is failing to realise is that unemployment is the greatest threat to the security and stability of the region today. Even without the current global economic crisis, the north was basically hostage to the oil economy.

When acclaimed business centres like Kano have to wait for federal allocations every month to pay workers salaries, which state in the North can be said to be economically viable? Is it Yobe, Sokoto or Plateau?

To make matters worse, banking - which is the engine room of every economy is a Southern affair. There is practically no bank in the north. Because one can point to a bank or two with minor northern ownership or management does not change that fact.

No economy can survive without efficient banking systems. That is why the government of the US, UK and many other advanced economies are spending trillions of dollars to shore up their banking systems and prevent them from collapse.

The problem of unemployment in the North is on a par with the situation in the Niger Delta. The only difference is that rather than kidnap foreigners, the army of unemployed youth in the North would be forced to kidnap the wives and children of the elite or even Sarakuna, (Emirs) who rightly or wrongly are seen as responsible for the region's decay.

As poverty engulfs the region, the tendency for social conflict under the guise of religion would grow. And it is only a matter of time before the teeming, angry youths of the North realise that the problem is not the innocent Christian or Muslim who just wants to carry on with life, but the region's ruling elite who live in the secluded mansions behind the very high fences of houses in exclusive areas. They may need to make their fences higher, or begin to find solutions to the region's unemployment. Bauchi was just a warning.


source:http://www.234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Opinion/Blogs/5439312-184/OPINION_-_The_Bauchi_carnage_and.csp

[size=20pt]R-E-V-E-A-L-E-D! Corruption in police - Policemen make N3bn monthly from illegal assignments, - We are not aware, say police; promise to sanction erring officers [/size]
- 07.08.2009

SOME top officers of the Nigeria Police and their men, it has been revealed, make about N3 billion monthly from the illegal posting of policemen to guard private individuals. The new Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, had, on Wednesday, disclosed that about 100,000 policemen were attached illegally to individuals that were not entitled to such privileges. He had subsequently issued a seven-day ultimatum to the affected policemen to return to their duty posts or face the consequence.

But a credible source told the Nigerian Tribune that the police hierarchy, indeed, was making a fortune from such illegal postings. The source revealed that it was through such illegal attachment of policemen to private individuals, who were not entitled but had the money to pay for such “security services,” that these top guns of the police made their money.

For instance, a policeman who was lucky to be posted on such “special duties,” according to the source, “was entitled to a payment of N1,000 on a daily basis, which adds up to N30,000 in a month.” Out of this amount, the source explained further that the “policeman on special duty is expected to remit N200 to his commander or whoever is his supervising officer from the N1,000 daily payment. The total amount that is remitted on a monthly basis to these top police officers who are involved in the illegal posting racket, is N6,000.

“In other words, these policemen make N3 billion monthly from these 100,000 men they have posted out to those who can pay for their services,” the source stated, adding that such postings were well known in the police and the racket was a thriving one and that low ranking policemen even struggled and prayed to receive such a ‘favour’ from their superior officers.

“Even these junior policemen do not complain. They fight one another to get assigned to these ‘special duties’ because they know the kind of money they would make from them,” he said, citing the case of one policeman, who asked the influential person he was asked to guard to intercede on his behalf when he was told by his commanding officer that he would be redeployed.

The source further stated that the police authorities were aware of the posting racket but chose not to do anything even when the Federal Executive Council, at one of its meetings in March, ordered the former IGP, Mr. Mike Okiro, to immediately withdraw such policemen from those unauthorised individuals.

Although it is not known how these influential police officers who are benefiting from the posting racket would react to the ultimatum of the new IGP, it is said that there is no way the illegal practice would cease in the force.

“Such postings will continue, though surreptitiously,” the source said, saying that what was at stake for some of these police guns was more than met the eye. “We are talking about multi-billion Naira racket here. There is no way it will stop,” he added.

Although it is not known how these influential police officers who are benefiting from the posting racket would react to the ultimatum of the new IGP, it is said that there is no way the illegal practice would cease in the force.

“Such postings will continue, though surreptitiously,” the source said, saying that what was at stake for some of these police guns was more than met the eye. “We are talking about multi-billion naira racket here. There is no way it will stop,” he added.

However, when contacted over the issue, the Nigeria Police Public Relations Officer, ACP Emmanuel Ojukwu, denied knowledge of the illegal posting racket from which commanding officers made billions of naira. He admitted instead that it was true that many policemen were illegally attached to unqualified individuals and that the police authorities had decided to tackle such illegal practice, saying that any officer that flouted the new order would be severely dealt with.

Said ACP Ojukwu: “We are not aware that these commanding officers are making money from such postings. But the IGP has decided to put an end to the practice. And any commissioner of police who does not obey the order of the IGP is on his own. Such a commissioner will face sanction from the headquarters. Such a commissioner will be removed from his command and will face disciplinary action,” he said.

The Force PPRO said that Mr. Onovo was serious about the order he gave on the matter and that “it is not going to be business as usual in the force. Just as the IGP had directed, those individuals who are entitled to the police have been listed. Anyone outside that list should look for alternative protection either from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps or by engaging the services of private security agencies,” he stated.


http://www.tribune.com.ng/07082009/news/news1.html

[size=20pt]'I will rise again' —Boko Haram leader, Yusuf's promise[/size]

• His final moments • How he fed members with spell-binding food, drinks

By BEN OBI JR.

MOHAMMED Yusuf, the youthful leader of Boko Haram the Islamic Militant Sect, did not recant on his beliefs even when it became apparent that he would die.

Sources close to security operatives who witness Yusuf's final moments, told National Daily that contrary to report in some media, Yusuf was not intimidated by hundreds of soldiers and policemen who stormed his hideout, his in-laws' cattle ranch in the outskirt of Maiduguri, Borno State.

“He was defiant even when the foreboding was disastrous. He kept shouting Allah Akbar (God is great) as he sighted the joint team of soldiers and police men who swooped on his residence.

“He did not really attempt to escape” said our informed source. Yusuf's courage and trust in Allah at that ominous moment of his life baffled the security agents who according to sources initially watched him with awe.
However, the security operatives did not lose sight of their patriotic responsibility as they reportedly moved into action.

“The security men took Yusuf by surprise. You know he escaped from his own residence and took refuge in his in-laws' ranch in Maiduguri. It is possible that the security operatives have been monitoring Yusuf's movement for some time.” One of our sources said.

National Daily learned that Yusuf got a hint on the impending invasion of his residence in Maiduguri and promptly fled to his in-laws' cattle ranch. Unknown to him, a surveillance team had been mounted around him. Some of Yusuf's members were actually spies who dutifully debriefed their bosses on the Boko Haram leader's activities and whereabouts.

The combined security team began operation as soon as it was certain that Yusuf was hiding in his in-laws' ranch in Maiduguri.

The arrival of the gun-trotting soldiers and policemen sources said, frightened Yusuf's aged in-laws' who pleaded with them not to harm any member of the family.

“They arrived there in the evening Thursdays July 29, in a military truck. They wore fierce looks that did not leave anybody in doubt as to their intentions. Yusuf could not escape even if he wanted because there were so many soldiers and policemen, while some ran towards the ranch, others paraded the street with their guns on ready-to-shoot position” said our source who himself is close to security operatives in Maiduguri.
Yusuf was said to have been ensconced inside the house in the ranch until the leader of the team, a colonel, shouted his name from the entrance. The Boko Haram leader, reportedly, screamed at the Marauding security agents from his vantage position.

“The soldiers and policemen ordered Yusuf and his hosts to open the door. They were banging at the door and vowed to raze down the house if the door was not opened. Yusuf did not break down at all. He kept calling the name of Allah”, an inside source said.

Eventually, the security team gained entrance into the house and arrested Yusuf amid protest by his in-laws'.
National Daily sources said Yusuf was taken to his residence where a thorough search was conducted.
Documents on the Islamic religion, correspondence with foreign Islamic groups and some inciting pamphlets were allegedly recovered.

The gloating soldiers and policemen, sources said, were astonished to discover that Yusuf was living in opulence while preaching the doctrine of austerity and self-denial to his followers and members of the public. He was said to have owned properties produced by the Western World which he condemned. “The security men were surprised that Yusuf had Cable Satellite, fleet of cars, canned food and fruits drinks”, our source said.

National Daily learned that Yusuf did not really restrict himself to the Islamic injunction which allows him to marry four wives. He was the licentious lover of over a hundred women who were allegedly discovered in his extended residence, though he claimed that they were members of his sect.

Sources alleged that Yusuf was brutally tortured when he was finally arrested. He was said to have been screaming “even if you kill me, I will rise again” (in Hausa) as he was pummeled and hit severally with gun buts.
“My followers will continue the struggle. I know Allah will bring me back”

Passersby were said to have watched the scene with mixed reaction. Sources said Yusuf was then taken to the government house where he had audience with the governor, Ali Modu Sherrif.
“The governor was very angry when he saw Yusuf, he cursed him persistently and accused him of instigating wanton destruction of lives and property in the State” said an inside source. Thereafter the soldiers handed Yusuf over to the Borno State police command.

Informed sources said that Yusuf had bruises on his head, neck, chest and limb when he was brought to the Police headquarters. He was allegedly panting for breath and in a fleet moment recites some Islamic verses. He was said to have repeated his boast that if he eventually died in the struggle to eradicate Western education from the North he will come back to life, somehow. Sources revealed that Mohammed Yusuf was kept in a dungy cell at the State Police headquarters with armed policemen instructed to mount sentry around the cell gate, some other policemen were drafted to beef up the security at the entrance gate of the command headquarters.

National Daily gathered in Maiduguri that news of the arrest of Mohammed Yusuf, the infamous leader of the Boko Haram Sect, was received with excitement by Maiduguri residents who were scared of the violence activities of his Sect. The arrest was said to have formed the topic of discussion in the streets, restaurants and parks, though in hushed tone, as residents were still afraid of reprisal attacks by surviving members of the dreaded sect.
As Yusuf was being driven to the Borno State Police Headquarters, the vehicle conveying him was trailed by a crowd.

Policemen were instructed to chase away the crowd that had gathered around the station for security reasons, to avoid Boko Haram members from infiltrating the area and cause trouble.
Yusuf was finally executed later in the night after the command allegedly received the go ahead order from higher authorities.

However, Force Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commissioner, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said Yusuf died in a gun duel with security agents. The police authorities later claimed he died from wounds sustained from gunshots.
Mohammed Yusuf was aged 39. The lanky and light-skinned Islamic Fundamentalist was from Yobe State, though he lived in Maiduguri before he died.

Yusuf was said to have been schooled in the Islamiya Islamic Sect Quaranic School in the old City of Borno. He also attended the Maiduguri Arabic Teachers College, though some sources contradicted this claim. He married four wives and had 12 children.

Mohammed Yusuf became popular in Maiduguri because of his radical preaching on Islam. He later set up a camp on the border with Niger Republic from where he allegedly launched series of attacks on the police.
Yusuf preached against Western form of education and lifestyle. He was convinced that it was his divine mission to vanquish everything connected to Western civilization. He formed the religious Sect Boko Haram to achieve his despicable objectives.

Boko Haram means 'Western education is sin.'
National Daily learned that Mohammed Yusuf was the leader of the Taliban group which invaded Yobe in 2003. His two lieutenants, Abu Umar and Usman Jalabu were killed in the clash.
The Sect who were known as Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama was actually discovered in Kano, where they were recruiting and training members. They fled to Kanamma, Yobe State and declared Kanama a Taliban enclave.
Mohammed Yusuf may have been killed because the authorities were scared that he would be released by the court again.
He is also believed to have been killed because those masquerades who used him to achieve their political objectives do not want to be exposed.

Local and foreign human Rights groups have criticized the execution of the Islamic Fundamentalist group leader, Mohammed Yusuf describing the act as extra judicial killing.
Human rights Watch researcher described Yusuf's execution as a “shocking example of the brazen contempt by the Nigerian Police for the rule of Law.”

Amnesty International called for an investigation and said those behind illegal killing must be brought to justice.
The FPRO said an investigation will be conducted into the remote and immediate cause of the death of the Boko Haram leader, how he was captured and handed over to the police, but ruled out extra-judicial killing.
Yusuf probably foresaw his own death, barely a week before he was killed.

“What I said previously that we are going to be attacked by the authorities has manifested itself in Bauchi, where about 40 of our brothers were killed, their mosque and homes burnt down completely and several others were injured and about 100 are presently in detention. Therefore, we will not agree with this kind of humiliation, we are ready to die together with our brothers and we would never concede to non-belief in Allah. I will not give myself up. If Allah wishes, they will arrest me; if Allah does not wish, they will never arrest me. But I will never give up myself, not after about 40 of my followers were killed in Bauchi. Is it right to kill them, is it right to shoot human beings? To surrender myself means what they did is right. Therefore, we are ready to fight to die.

Democracy and the current system of education must be changed otherwise this war that is yet to start would continue for long.” The late Taliban leader was quoted as having said.

Meanwhile, the combined team of soldiers and policemen also raided the camp of the Boko Haram Sect in the Border with Niger Republic.

Sources said the sect members were enraged by the presence of security agents and started to shoot at them. The security agents returned fire-for-fire.

At the end of the operation which lasted several hours, scores of corpses of the sect members littered roads leading to Bayan Quarters base of the Islamic Fundamentalist and the building in the camp. About 700 members of the Sect were allegedly killed.

However, the leader Mohammed Yusuf was said to have escaped to his in-laws' resident but his Deputy, Abubakar Shekan was killed in the operation.

A former Borno State Commissioner, Alhaji Buji Fai was also killed among the 700 sect members. Fai who was Commissioner for Water Resources before he was moved to the Ministry of Religious Affairs based on his request.
Sources said that Fai was actually captured alive before he was shot dead. His body was displaced in front of the Police Headquarters on Friday morning.

National Daily gathered that Fai was a strong member of the sect as some of his properties were used by the sect members for their activities. Police sources said he owned a warehouse in Bauchi in which some families of the members in Bauchi, numbering about 180, were hidden in an outskirt of Maiduguri.

Col. Ahanotu who led the operation disclosed that about 20 cars, including a sports utility vehicle, one Toyota, one Camry, one Honda car and about 200 Motorcycles. Others items discovered in the Boko Haram's camp were serving machines, deep freezers, food items and homemade petrol bombs.

Meanwhile, controversies are now raging over the circumstances that led to the killing of Mohammed Yusuf, the Boko Haram leader.

Borno State Commissioner of Police Christopher Dega confirmed that Yusuf was handed over to the police alive.
However, he said the sect leader sustained severe injuries from gunshots in an encounter with counter insurgency security men prior to his arrest and because of the severity of the injury he died. This should imply that Yusuf was not executed by the Police after his arrest.

The Boko Haram Sect disturbances are arguably the bloodiest Sectarian crisis since the Jos uprising last November. The crisis which started in Bauchi two weeks ago spread to Yobe, Katsina, Sokoto and Kano States.
The Taliban leader, Mohammed Yusuf had been arrested and charged before a Maiduguri High Court for public incitement, but he challenged the government through his lawyer for alleged infringement on his fundamental human rights, freedom of expression and association.

The Boko Haram Sect came to prominence in 2003 when some of their members who were driven out of Kano opened a camp in Kanamma the headquarters of Yunusa Local Government Area in Yobe State.
They started attacking Police until a joint team of security forces invaded the camp during which the lieutenants to Yusuf were killed while he (Yusuf) escaped to neighbouring Chad.

So, the Boko Haram groups were crunched in 2003 when they clashed with a combined team of military and police in Yobe State.

Nothing was heard about him, at least in Yobe State, until recently when the Boko Haram Sect laid siege at the Divisional Police headquarters in Potiskum, where they killed a police officer and a fire service driver and set ablaze the police station, the office of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the National Population Commission (NPC).

An Inspector died from injuries inflicted on him by the sect members who also attacked and killed a mobile policeman.

After a fierce battle with combined team of soldiers and policemen in a bush in Mamudo near Potiskum, 33 members of the Boko Haram Sect aged between 20 40 years were killed.

Hundreds of youths, some sewing machine, pharmacy, engineering, agriculture and humanities dropped out of universities and tertiary institutions across the country to join the group.
The mission of the Islamic Sect is to wipe out government and Western education. To them, anything Western is against Islam. Many Islamic clerics condemn this claim as false.

Sources said the Boko Haram Sect members were taught how to use gun, fight in the desert like the Taliban and learnt the doctrines of the Sect as propagated by their leader Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf.
Members of this sect believed that their leader was infallible; no member could challenge him because his word was law.

Mohammed Yusuf was said to have prepared special food and fruit drink known as dabino with a magical power to turn the senses of his listeners and make them accept his doctrines and become fiercely loyal to him once they ate the food and drank the dabino.

An informed source inside the Boko Haram Sect told National Daily that “If you eat the dabino (fruit drink) your brain will turn around and you will start to believe whatever Yusuf preach to you. You will believe that even if you die fighting for him, you will become a Martyr.”
The Boko Haram Jihad began in Bauchi when members of the fanatical Sect attacked a police station in the northern side of Bauchi.

Reports said a total of over 700 members of the Sect have been killed by the police. Over 200 members of the sect clashed with military personnel in the Maiduguri metropolis.
The conflict began when the religious zealots who wore military camouflage stormed the Police headquarters and other structures within Maiduguri with petrol bombs, arrows and other weapons with the aim of razing down the place.

The sect seized the mosques in Kano Township and violently sacked defenseless citizens. The police killed three of the sect members and arrested 33 others.
The Boko Haram carried out an audacious attack on Police Stations in Yobe compelling the government to impose dusk-to-dawn curfew in the State.

Yusuf and his extremist sect were said to have a clearly stated intention of vanquishing any form of Western values in the North by engaging in a Jihad (Holy War). Already Boko Haram has thousands of members in five States of the North.

About 700 Boko Haram members have been killed so far in the sectarian crisis.
The sect apart from enlisting teenagers into the group also conscripted under aged children. Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Danlami was forcefully separated from his two daughters, Maimunatu and Iklimatu in Jos, Plateau State. It was also alleged that the fanatical sect abducted 12 female students, who were aged between 12 19 years in Bukuru, Jos, and took them to unknown destination. This also allegedly happened in other places like Bauchi, Adamawa, Kaduna and Katsina States.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to forestall the influx of the radical Sect just as about 36 members of the Boko Haram who were on their way to Lagos possibly to launch the Jihad in the South were arrested.

The late Mohammed Yusuf's followers and the entire nation are waiting to see if the executed Islamic extremist will fulfill his promise by 'coming back to life.’


source: http://www.nationaldailyngr.com/cover.htm

[size=20pt]'I will rise again' —Boko Haram leader, Yusuf's promise [/size]


• His final moments • How he fed members with spell-binding food, drinks

By BEN OBI JR.

MOHAMMED Yusuf, the youthful leader of Boko Haram the Islamic Militant Sect, did not recant on his beliefs even when it became apparent that he would die.

Sources close to security operatives who witness Yusuf's final moments, told National Daily that contrary to report in some media, Yusuf was not intimidated by hundreds of soldiers and policemen who stormed his hideout, his in-laws' cattle ranch in the outskirt of Maiduguri, Borno State.

“He was defiant even when the foreboding was disastrous. He kept shouting Allah Akbar (God is great) as he sighted the joint team of soldiers and police men who swooped on his residence.

“He did not really attempt to escape” said our informed source. Yusuf's courage and trust in Allah at that ominous moment of his life baffled the security agents who according to sources initially watched him with awe.
However, the security operatives did not lose sight of their patriotic responsibility as they reportedly moved into action.

“The security men took Yusuf by surprise. You know he escaped from his own residence and took refuge in his in-laws' ranch in Maiduguri. It is possible that the security operatives have been monitoring Yusuf's movement for some time.” One of our sources said.

National Daily learned that Yusuf got a hint on the impending invasion of his residence in Maiduguri and promptly fled to his in-laws' cattle ranch. Unknown to him, a surveillance team had been mounted around him. Some of Yusuf's members were actually spies who dutifully debriefed their bosses on the Boko Haram leader's activities and whereabouts.

The combined security team began operation as soon as it was certain that Yusuf was hiding in his in-laws' ranch in Maiduguri.

The arrival of the gun-trotting soldiers and policemen sources said, frightened Yusuf's aged in-laws' who pleaded with them not to harm any member of the family.

“They arrived there in the evening Thursdays July 29, in a military truck. They wore fierce looks that did not leave anybody in doubt as to their intentions. Yusuf could not escape even if he wanted because there were so many soldiers and policemen, while some ran towards the ranch, others paraded the street with their guns on ready-to-shoot position” said our source who himself is close to security operatives in Maiduguri.
Yusuf was said to have been ensconced inside the house in the ranch until the leader of the team, a colonel, shouted his name from the entrance. The Boko Haram leader, reportedly, screamed at the Marauding security agents from his vantage position.

“The soldiers and policemen ordered Yusuf and his hosts to open the door. They were banging at the door and vowed to raze down the house if the door was not opened. Yusuf did not break down at all. He kept calling the name of Allah”, an inside source said.

Eventually, the security team gained entrance into the house and arrested Yusuf amid protest by his in-laws'.
National Daily sources said Yusuf was taken to his residence where a thorough search was conducted.
Documents on the Islamic religion, correspondence with foreign Islamic groups and some inciting pamphlets were allegedly recovered.

The gloating soldiers and policemen, sources said, were astonished to discover that Yusuf was living in opulence while preaching the doctrine of austerity and self-denial to his followers and members of the public. He was said to have owned properties produced by the Western World which he condemned. “The security men were surprised that Yusuf had Cable Satellite, fleet of cars, canned food and fruits drinks”, our source said.

National Daily learned that Yusuf did not really restrict himself to the Islamic injunction which allows him to marry four wives. He was the licentious lover of over a hundred women who were allegedly discovered in his extended residence, though he claimed that they were members of his sect.

Sources alleged that Yusuf was brutally tortured when he was finally arrested. He was said to have been screaming “even if you kill me, I will rise again” (in Hausa) as he was pummeled and hit severally with gun buts.
“My followers will continue the struggle. I know Allah will bring me back”

Passersby were said to have watched the scene with mixed reaction. Sources said Yusuf was then taken to the government house where he had audience with the governor, Ali Modu Sherrif.
“The governor was very angry when he saw Yusuf, he cursed him persistently and accused him of instigating wanton destruction of lives and property in the State” said an inside source. Thereafter the soldiers handed Yusuf over to the Borno State police command.

Informed sources said that Yusuf had bruises on his head, neck, chest and limb when he was brought to the Police headquarters. He was allegedly panting for breath and in a fleet moment recites some Islamic verses. He was said to have repeated his boast that if he eventually died in the struggle to eradicate Western education from the North he will come back to life, somehow. Sources revealed that Mohammed Yusuf was kept in a dungy cell at the State Police headquarters with armed policemen instructed to mount sentry around the cell gate, some other policemen were drafted to beef up the security at the entrance gate of the command headquarters.

National Daily gathered in Maiduguri that news of the arrest of Mohammed Yusuf, the infamous leader of the Boko Haram Sect, was received with excitement by Maiduguri residents who were scared of the violence activities of his Sect. The arrest was said to have formed the topic of discussion in the streets, restaurants and parks, though in hushed tone, as residents were still afraid of reprisal attacks by surviving members of the dreaded sect.
As Yusuf was being driven to the Borno State Police Headquarters, the vehicle conveying him was trailed by a crowd.

Policemen were instructed to chase away the crowd that had gathered around the station for security reasons, to avoid Boko Haram members from infiltrating the area and cause trouble.
Yusuf was finally executed later in the night after the command allegedly received the go ahead order from higher authorities.

However, Force Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commissioner, Emmanuel Ojukwu, said Yusuf died in a gun duel with security agents. The police authorities later claimed he died from wounds sustained from gunshots.
Mohammed Yusuf was aged 39. The lanky and light-skinned Islamic Fundamentalist was from Yobe State, though he lived in Maiduguri before he died.

Yusuf was said to have been schooled in the Islamiya Islamic Sect Quaranic School in the old City of Borno. He also attended the Maiduguri Arabic Teachers College, though some sources contradicted this claim. He married four wives and had 12 children.

Mohammed Yusuf became popular in Maiduguri because of his radical preaching on Islam. He later set up a camp on the border with Niger Republic from where he allegedly launched series of attacks on the police.
Yusuf preached against Western form of education and lifestyle. He was convinced that it was his divine mission to vanquish everything connected to Western civilization. He formed the religious Sect Boko Haram to achieve his despicable objectives.

Boko Haram means 'Western education is sin.'
National Daily learned that Mohammed Yusuf was the leader of the Taliban group which invaded Yobe in 2003. His two lieutenants, Abu Umar and Usman Jalabu were killed in the clash.
The Sect who were known as Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama was actually discovered in Kano, where they were recruiting and training members. They fled to Kanamma, Yobe State and declared Kanama a Taliban enclave.
Mohammed Yusuf may have been killed because the authorities were scared that he would be released by the court again.
He is also believed to have been killed because those masquerades who used him to achieve their political objectives do not want to be exposed.

Local and foreign human Rights groups have criticized the execution of the Islamic Fundamentalist group leader, Mohammed Yusuf describing the act as extra judicial killing.
Human rights Watch researcher described Yusuf's execution as a “shocking example of the brazen contempt by the Nigerian Police for the rule of Law.”

Amnesty International called for an investigation and said those behind illegal killing must be brought to justice.
The FPRO said an investigation will be conducted into the remote and immediate cause of the death of the Boko Haram leader, how he was captured and handed over to the police, but ruled out extra-judicial killing.
Yusuf probably foresaw his own death, barely a week before he was killed.

“What I said previously that we are going to be attacked by the authorities has manifested itself in Bauchi, where about 40 of our brothers were killed, their mosque and homes burnt down completely and several others were injured and about 100 are presently in detention. Therefore, we will not agree with this kind of humiliation, we are ready to die together with our brothers and we would never concede to non-belief in Allah. I will not give myself up. If Allah wishes, they will arrest me; if Allah does not wish, they will never arrest me. But I will never give up myself, not after about 40 of my followers were killed in Bauchi. Is it right to kill them, is it right to shoot human beings? To surrender myself means what they did is right. Therefore, we are ready to fight to die.

Democracy and the current system of education must be changed otherwise this war that is yet to start would continue for long.” The late Taliban leader was quoted as having said.

Meanwhile, the combined team of soldiers and policemen also raided the camp of the Boko Haram Sect in the Border with Niger Republic.

Sources said the sect members were enraged by the presence of security agents and started to shoot at them. The security agents returned fire-for-fire.

At the end of the operation which lasted several hours, scores of corpses of the sect members littered roads leading to Bayan Quarters base of the Islamic Fundamentalist and the building in the camp. About 700 members of the Sect were allegedly killed.

However, the leader Mohammed Yusuf was said to have escaped to his in-laws' resident but his Deputy, Abubakar Shekan was killed in the operation.

A former Borno State Commissioner, Alhaji Buji Fai was also killed among the 700 sect members. Fai who was Commissioner for Water Resources before he was moved to the Ministry of Religious Affairs based on his request.
Sources said that Fai was actually captured alive before he was shot dead. His body was displaced in front of the Police Headquarters on Friday morning.

National Daily gathered that Fai was a strong member of the sect as some of his properties were used by the sect members for their activities. Police sources said he owned a warehouse in Bauchi in which some families of the members in Bauchi, numbering about 180, were hidden in an outskirt of Maiduguri.

Col. Ahanotu who led the operation disclosed that about 20 cars, including a sports utility vehicle, one Toyota, one Camry, one Honda car and about 200 Motorcycles. Others items discovered in the Boko Haram's camp were serving machines, deep freezers, food items and homemade petrol bombs.

Meanwhile, controversies are now raging over the circumstances that led to the killing of Mohammed Yusuf, the Boko Haram leader.

Borno State Commissioner of Police Christopher Dega confirmed that Yusuf was handed over to the police alive.
However, he said the sect leader sustained severe injuries from gunshots in an encounter with counter insurgency security men prior to his arrest and because of the severity of the injury he died. This should imply that Yusuf was not executed by the Police after his arrest.

The Boko Haram Sect disturbances are arguably the bloodiest Sectarian crisis since the Jos uprising last November. The crisis which started in Bauchi two weeks ago spread to Yobe, Katsina, Sokoto and Kano States.
The Taliban leader, Mohammed Yusuf had been arrested and charged before a Maiduguri High Court for public incitement, but he challenged the government through his lawyer for alleged infringement on his fundamental human rights, freedom of expression and association.

The Boko Haram Sect came to prominence in 2003 when some of their members who were driven out of Kano opened a camp in Kanamma the headquarters of Yunusa Local Government Area in Yobe State.
They started attacking Police until a joint team of security forces invaded the camp during which the lieutenants to Yusuf were killed while he (Yusuf) escaped to neighbouring Chad.

So, the Boko Haram groups were crunched in 2003 when they clashed with a combined team of military and police in Yobe State.

Nothing was heard about him, at least in Yobe State, until recently when the Boko Haram Sect laid siege at the Divisional Police headquarters in Potiskum, where they killed a police officer and a fire service driver and set ablaze the police station, the office of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the National Population Commission (NPC).

An Inspector died from injuries inflicted on him by the sect members who also attacked and killed a mobile policeman.

After a fierce battle with combined team of soldiers and policemen in a bush in Mamudo near Potiskum, 33 members of the Boko Haram Sect aged between 20 40 years were killed.

Hundreds of youths, some sewing machine, pharmacy, engineering, agriculture and humanities dropped out of universities and tertiary institutions across the country to join the group.
The mission of the Islamic Sect is to wipe out government and Western education. To them, anything Western is against Islam. Many Islamic clerics condemn this claim as false.

Sources said the Boko Haram Sect members were taught how to use gun, fight in the desert like the Taliban and learnt the doctrines of the Sect as propagated by their leader Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf.
Members of this sect believed that their leader was infallible; no member could challenge him because his word was law.

Mohammed Yusuf was said to have prepared special food and fruit drink known as dabino with a magical power to turn the senses of his listeners and make them accept his doctrines and become fiercely loyal to him once they ate the food and drank the dabino.

An informed source inside the Boko Haram Sect told National Daily that “If you eat the dabino (fruit drink) your brain will turn around and you will start to believe whatever Yusuf preach to you. You will believe that even if you die fighting for him, you will become a Martyr.”
The Boko Haram Jihad began in Bauchi when members of the fanatical Sect attacked a police station in the northern side of Bauchi.

Reports said a total of over 700 members of the Sect have been killed by the police. Over 200 members of the sect clashed with military personnel in the Maiduguri metropolis.
The conflict began when the religious zealots who wore military camouflage stormed the Police headquarters and other structures within Maiduguri with petrol bombs, arrows and other weapons with the aim of razing down the place.

The sect seized the mosques in Kano Township and violently sacked defenseless citizens. The police killed three of the sect members and arrested 33 others.
The Boko Haram carried out an audacious attack on Police Stations in Yobe compelling the government to impose dusk-to-dawn curfew in the State.

Yusuf and his extremist sect were said to have a clearly stated intention of vanquishing any form of Western values in the North by engaging in a Jihad (Holy War). Already Boko Haram has thousands of members in five States of the North.

About 700 Boko Haram members have been killed so far in the sectarian crisis.
The sect apart from enlisting teenagers into the group also conscripted under aged children. Alhaji Mohammed Ahmed Danlami was forcefully separated from his two daughters, Maimunatu and Iklimatu in Jos, Plateau State. It was also alleged that the fanatical sect abducted 12 female students, who were aged between 12 19 years in Bukuru, Jos, and took them to unknown destination. This also allegedly happened in other places like Bauchi, Adamawa, Kaduna and Katsina States.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to forestall the influx of the radical Sect just as about 36 members of the Boko Haram who were on their way to Lagos possibly to launch the Jihad in the South were arrested.

The late Mohammed Yusuf's followers and the entire nation are waiting to see if the executed Islamic extremist will fulfill his promise by 'coming back to life.’



http://www.nationaldailyngr.com/cover.htm

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.



If u don`t speak up against state brutality, just remember it might be u or family next time.

------ Okunoba

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.



If u don`t speak up against state brutality, just remember it might be u or family next time.

------ Okunoba

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.



If u don`t speak up against state brutality, just remember it might be u or family next time.

, , Okunoba

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.



If u don`t speak up against state brutality, just remember it might be u or family next time.

, Okunoba

The government only succeeded in killling the messanger, and they killed more than 700 of them. But the message is still out there alive

I haven't seen any prominent northerner who has categorically condemned this senseless killings and execution. All condemnation are coming from southerners who are calling for inquiry. How can the security agents gun down more than 700 hundred people without their closest relatives raising a voice. This northern elites and political class are truly animals, devoid of feelings

Tsiya
Generalzango

the idea that Boko Haram are the alternative op postion to the government in the north is baseless. Can Boko haram really stop PDP from controlling north? I doubt it. In Nigeria election is rigged, PDP does not need Boko Haram to rig election

Moreover Boko Haram members dont participate in government, and the leader encourage member to resign their appointment in Government

The question that beg for an answer:

Why would Yaradua, or whoever is in control, sanction the brutal murder and execution of his own people?

Generalzango

How can somebody with a masters degree be against western education? Why did the Nigerian Government want him dead so quick?

there is no report of him attending any school in Nigeria, not even primary school, though its is speculated that he attends a Koranic graduate school in Saudia but drop out. Certainly he is a man of letter, educated in Islamic religion. His previous interviews depict a man knowledgeable and versed in happenings around him. Definitely he must be educated to have convinced lecturers, graduates, to join his group. Though he is said to be a great orator, with charm and charisma, what the Hausa people called , "farin jini".

Tsiya

This government is going after every single opposition. The only formidable opponent PDP have in the north is in the religious group. Once they get the backing of important religious group there is a guarantee they will win.

But I assure you, keep your ear to the ground, if the election in 2011 comes, bauchi will be much hotter than u thought.

Tsiya your theory is interesting. where is your source.
Obviously, the senseless killing make no sense to me. How can Yaradua sanction the brutal murder and blatant execution of his own people?

I haven't seen any prominent northerner who has categorically condemned this senseless killings and execution. All condemnation are coming from southerners who are calling for inquiry. How can the security agents gun down more than 700 hundred people without their closest relatives raising a voice. This northern elites and political class are truly animals, devoid of feelings

Northerners have no sense of human feelings.

Southerners living in the muslim north are better advised to relocate to south, the continuous spilling of innocent blood like a recurring decimal will certainly continue into the future.

southerners should leave now