₦airaland Forum

Over 24 hours after the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, ordered the Oyo State Police Commissioner to arrest Sunday Adeyemo aka (Igboho) for his role in the attack on Fulani communities at Iganga, Ibarapa LGA of the state, the suspect is still walking free, Daily Trust on Sunday reports.

Igboho, who had earlier issued a seven-day quit notice to Fulani in the area, reportedly led his supporters to the palace of the Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, on Friday where they killed three people and razed houses and cars, forcing Fulani resident in the area to flee.

A source close to Igboho told our correspondent on Saturday in Ibadan that Igboho was still going about his usual business at his Soka residence, in Oluyole Local Government Area of the state.

“He has no place to go. He was not at the scene when the incident happened. He had left Igangan before the incident happened. Meanwhile, his mission in Igangan was not to fight anyone but to assure residents of his support for peaceful co-existence as you can see in the video going viral on social media where he encouraged Yoruba people of his support. The only people he asked to leave are terrorists who are causing confusion in the area,” the source said.

Following the attacks on the communities, Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, had on Friday told the BBC Hausa Service that IGP Adamu had directed the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko, to arrest Igboho.

Also, the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde in a statement through his media aide, Taiwo Adisa, asked the commissioner of police to arrest Igboho for inciting the violence.

When contacted, the governor’s chief press secretary, Mr Adisa, directed our correspondent to ask the police why Igboho has not yet been arrested.

“It is not the duty of the governor to arrest anyone but it is the duty of the police,” he said.

Adisa said the governor didn’t mention anyone’s name but he specifically said miscreants, kidnappers and hoodlums in the state should be arrested.

The Oyo Police Command spokesman, Olugbenga Fadeyi, rejected calls put through to him while text messages sent to him were not replied to.

‘How we escaped attack’

Meanwhile, one of the sons of the Sarkin Fulani, Umar Salihu Abdulkadir Sarki, has narrated how they escaped Friday’s attack on their settlement.

Salihu, who spoke to one of our correspondents from his hiding place, said the attack happened despite assurances given to them by various security agencies in the state.

He said both the police and the DSS urged them not to panic, that nothing would happen to them.

“The Police Area Commander in Ibarapa told me that he was coming with Sunday Igboho and that we should calm down that nothing will happen to us, he told us that they were coming together.

“The Area Command later called us and told us that we should move with Sarki to Igboora and we should take him away; as I was trying to drive him away, the road to Igboora was blocked by the youths and I had no option but to turn back,” he said.

Hundreds of almajirai have returned to the streets months after Northern state governors banned the almajirci in their states.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, some Northern state governors spent millions evacuating almajirai to their home states and some outrightly banned the almajirci practice.

However, despite the confusion relocating the almajirai generated among state governors, many children are seen in their numbers, in tattered clothes and with begging bowls in the streets of Zuba, Bauchi, Lafia, Kano and Kaduna.

Our correspondent in Bauchi observed an increasing number of almajirai at different markets, motor parks, petrol stations, local food joints and prominent junctions in the state capital particularly Wunti Roundabout, where they spend the day begging for alms.

Almajirai were also seen on major roads, streets, and popular junctions begging for food and money, a situation that exposes them to traffic and other dangers.

Daily Trust Saturday recalled that the Bauchi State Government had last year repatriated hundreds of almajirai to their states of origin and received another set from neighbouring states who were reunited with their parents.

Surajo Hamza, 13, was repatriated to his village in Sheme, Lere LGA in Kaduna State. He returned to Bauchi two weeks ago.

“Our Malam, Malam Sani, went to our village two weeks ago and brought us back to Bauchi,” he said. “I was among hundreds of almajirai who were repatriated from Bauchi State to our state of origin.”

Yusuf Rabe, 10, from Dagolo village in Katsina State is now an almajiri at Unguwar Kurmi in Bauchi metropolis.

“It was my brother who brought me back to Bauchi six weeks ago to Alaramma school in Unguwar Kurmi. I don’t know why they brought me back to Bauchi because I was taken back to my parents,” he said.

A resident, Garba Mohammed, said that the state government was not sincere about its ban of the almajiri system because, “There is no practical step to monitor the implementation of the ban, neither is there an arrangement to enforce the ban. Any filling station you enter in the metropolis you see these children chasing you for alms.”

The proprietor of a tsangaya school under the leadership of Sheikh Dahiru Usman Bauchi had rejected the ban on the almajirci system by the northern state governors, describing the move as callous, discriminatory, and a conspiracy against Qur’anic knowledge.

The Bauchi State Commissioner of Religious Affairs and Community Relation, Ado Sarkin Aska Zigau, when contacted on phone declined to comment and insisted on a face-to-face encounter. When our reporter requested to meet the commissioner, he dropped the call.

However, the Commissioner of Education, Dr Aliyu Usman Tilde said that the government is aware of the return of the almajirai and a committee is at work to find solutions to the challenge.

“The committee is still working and consulting with critical stakeholders on a gradual process to enforce the ban because this system has been in place for over 1,000 years,” he said.

Tilde explained that the committee had already directed the local government councils, through their welfare offices, to commence preparations for a smooth process of implementing the new approach to tackle the problems.

At the onset of COVID-19, the Kano State Government announced a ban on street begging by almajirci. The move was supposed to usher the almajirci system into the policy of free and compulsory primary and junior secondary school education in the state.

In April, the state government evacuated hundreds of almajirai who are not indigenes of the state to their home states.

Daily Trust Saturday observed that some of these almajirai have returned to the streets of the state’s metropolis, begging for alms with zero compliance to COVID-19 protocols.

Ismail Sani, an indigene of Batsari in Katsina State said he and his colleagues returned to Kano about three months ago as they could not stay with their parents because life is better in Kano.

A group of almajirai begging along BUK Road said they have been in the state as their teacher did not allow them to go back to their parents.

“He kept us away from street begging. We only went to neighbouring houses to seek for food. But now that we see our counterparts resurface in the state, we join them,” one of them said.

They said their only means of survival is through alms. Their teacher, they said, also collects a weekly levy from them from the money they get from begging.

A resident, Malam Ali Mu’azu, said there is no way the government can succeed in stopping street begging without collaborating with neighbouring states because the majority of beggars come from those states.

Another resident said he is not happy with the return of the almajirai as they, according to him, have become a menace to society.

Malam Rabi’u Garba, a ward head, said for the ban to work, there has to be collaboration between the government, community leaders and tsangaya scholars.

“The government has to sit with the tsangaya scholars and understand why they engage in begging, get some statistics, know the total number of those engaged in street begging. They should also include community leaders who can report any alaramma (teacher) that allows his almajirai to go begging,” he said.

When contacted, the state’s Commissioner of Education, Muhammad Sanusi Kiru asked our correspondent to come to his office but upon getting there, he said he could not comment on the story.

In Abuja, there is also a ban on street begging, forcing the almajirai to move to satellite towns and slums. One of the almajirai in Zuba, Yusuf Ibrahim, from Bauchi State, said during the lockdown, his teacher sent all of them back home where he spent three months doing nothing. When the lockdown was lifted his parents sent him back.

“I came back to Abuja three weeks ago and when I was at home, I was doing nothing. My parents put me in a car going to Abuja and since then, I have been going to Islamiya and begging when I am not there,” Ibrahim said.

In Kaduna, almajirai who returned were mostly found within communities in the state. A few of them were seen on major roads as they operate in isolation to avoid arrest by government officials.

Some of their teachers declined to comment but an Islamic teacher at Rigasa, who does not operate tsangaya school, Malam Aliyu Suleiman, said some of the schools in the area operate secretly.

“I saw some almajirai children studying in their schools but as you know, they will not want to be identified since the government is against it,” he said.

Asked if they abide by the COVID-19 protocols he said, “You know they don’t because it will be difficult to do that due to the number of the children.”

A resident of Zaria who simply gave his name as Salisu said most of the schools still operate in Zaria.

The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company yesterday restored power supply to former President Shehu Shagari’s house on the Sama Road, Sokoto.

It was learnt that despite pleas by family members, electricity supply was cut off from Shagari’s residence on Wednesday over non-payment of N6m bills. The Sokoto State Government, it was gathered, had been paying the electricity bills of the late ex-leader’s house. A staff member of the electricity company told Daily Trust that a commitment was made before electricity was reconnected to Shagari’s house. He was, however, silent on who made the commitment. The Sokoto State Commissioner for Energy, Aliyu Mahe, said he was in a meeting when our reporter called him. The spokesman of the state branch of the electricity company, Malam Umar, also declined comment.

The federal government is constitutionally empowered to cater for the general wellbeing of former presidents, heads of state, their deputies, as well as their families, contrary to beliefs in some quarters that this responsibility lies with the states of origin of the ex- leaders.

Investigations have shown that at least since 1999, the federal government, in line with Decree 32 of 1999, has been spending billions annually to cater for the upkeep of Nigeria’s former leaders. In 2001, the decree however, became the Remuneration of former Presidents, heads of Federal Legislative Houses and Chief Justices of the Federation (and other Ancillary Matters) Act. This newspaper’s findings revealed that when the National Assembly further amended the law in 2008 and 2010, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), was thereby mandated to fix the remunerations of the former leaders from time to time in line consonance with economic realities on ground.

RMAFC draws its mandate from Sections 70 and 84 (4) of the 1999 Constitution, under the Certain Political Public and Judicial Office Holders (Salaries, Allowances, etc) Act, 2002 and the Amendment Act of 2008.

One of such leaders is former President Shehu Shagari, who died some years back. There are reports that Shagari’s residence in Sokoto has been disconnected by the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KAEDCO) over unpaid power bills.

FG pays ex-presidents, families allowances –Official

While it is unclear why the families of the former leader failed to settle the electricity bills of their residence, investigations by this newspaper – through speaking to top federal government official who declined being named because he was not authorized to speak – revealed that money might not be the problem as Shagari’s family has been receiving his entitlements even after his demise as provided for by the law.

“The federal government is responsible for the upkeep of all former leaders. It is a law. And money is budgeted and released for this purpose. Why the family can’t settle their electricity bill is surprising. Something must be wrong somewhere. The family receives their approved entitlements as provided for by the law as and when due,” the top bureaucrat in Abuja said.

When asked whether it is the responsibility of the state governments where the former leaders hail from to cater for the former presidents and their families, the top official said that was not correct. “The law is clear. It is the sole responsibility of the federal government. And the government is executing that responsibility. Whatever the state does is voluntary. Besides, what the law stipulates for the ex-leaders, by all standards, is more than enough for them and their family,” he source said.

Hundreds of civilians have fled their homes in Marte, a community in Borno State, after suspected Boko Haram insurgents attacked a military base and raze down public buildings in the fringes of Lake Chad Basin, sources said.

It was learnt that the terrorists in their hundreds stormed the recently resettled community in the northern part of the state on Friday evening, shooting from all angles and forcing returnees to flee into the bushes.

An official of the Borno State Government told our correspondent that there was a gun battle between troops and insurgents for hours at Marte town on Friday evening.

He added that hundreds of civilians slept in the bushes and trekked throughout the night but have started arriving Dikwa town, which is about 25 kilometers away.

“It was a disturbing news. We got the sad news last night around 8:pm that the troops have been engaging the insurgents for hours.

“As I am speaking to you, hundreds of returnees fled their homes and are taking refuge in Dikwa.

“The troops have displayed gallantry but the insurgents came in hundreds, according to information we received.

“Our prayers are with the troops,” the source disclosed.

A security source also revealed that the insurgents attacked military formations.

The source further stressed that, this morning, there was a reinforcement from Dikwa which engaged the outlawed group but the details are not available as of the time of filling this report.

However, unconfirmed reports stated that insurgents may have overran Marte last night.

It would be recalled that on 1st December, 2020 the State resettled 500 households, comprising 2,870 returnees after six years in exile.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the education sector has been one of the worst hits with 1.9 billion children globally unable to attend school.
Amidst the pandemics, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, shut universities in the country for nine months over a strike action.

This is even as other unions like NASU, SSANU and Primary School Teacher in FCT also had to go on strike at some point.

With the strike over, the threats posed by the second wave of the pandemic is threatening the reopening of the institutions.

Daily Trust checks showed that the twin menace of the pandemic and the strikes have combined to wreak havoc on the education system and the education calendar.

Now some analysts are warning that it might take a while to stabilize the calendar, provided ASUU does not embark on another strike, which is likely to happen as the Federal Government has already failed to meet some of the conditions for the suspension of the last strike.

To address the situation, some intuitions have resorted to cancelling the current academic session. That would mean a delay in graduating students and a failure to admit new intakes. This will create a backlog of students and prospective students, who will have to wait a year or two to pursue their careers or education.

An educationist, Yussuff Oriyomi said long closures of schools are detrimental, especially for students who may want to pursue a masters’ degree or proceed for further studies abroad.

“When Universities cancel a session like BUK, UI etc are doing, it will show a gap in their transcript that they would have to be explaining,” he said.

He also said there is a backlog of frustrated admission seekers who might suffer mentally.

“I know of one who almost committed suicide of recent due to depression,” he said. “Universities should integrate virtual learning seriously into the transfer of knowledge process.”

Meanwhile, Prof. Christian Opata of the Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) said the havoc is “very enormous” and “multi-dimensional.”

Prof. Opata, who spoke during a telephone interview from his Nsukka base, said that both students and lecturers have wasted one academic session because of the strikes and the pandemic.

He bemoaned the fact that even the research project he embarked upon in collaboration with his students before the outbreak was suspended indefinitely.

“There are some business ventures that thrive only when schools are in sessions. For instance, those who are operating business centres, catering, and landlords, they have all shut down because the schools are shut down,” he said.

An educationist in Kaduna, Ibrahim Shehu Giwa said the educational system is under assault from all angles and that this may be a systematic approach to killing education.

“Students have now resorted to drug abuse, most of them have forgotten what they’ve learned previously, those coming in have been denied the chance of entry and as it is, the capacity to accommodate additional numbers are lacking,” he said.

A former lecturer with the Department of Political Science, University of Jos, Professor Juliana Mafwil, said the problem with the education system in the country is massive.

Mafwil called on the government to give education priority, pointing out that even the allocation to the education sector in the 2021 budget is still very small and needs to be increased.

She advised the government to reconcile all their differences with ASUU, stressing that opening of schools with ASUU and the federal government strife still raging would be an effort in futility.

It is however the students who will bear the brunt of the instability in the education system. For most of them, the prospect is highly unsettling.

A student in the Department of Medical Rehabilitation at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), Ms Cynthia Olua said the lockdown interrupted their exams.

“It made everybody repeat the academic session. It also forced some young people (students) into illegal activities such as Yahoo-Yahoo and the girls are into ‘runs’ and things like that for some people both here and outside Nigeria to make quick money,” she said.

She said some students have already lost interest in education as “they have enough reasons to do so.”

“It has caused a drastic negative impact on the nation’s education system,” she said. “The authorities might consider the introduction of online teaching and learning methods in a stable network, not a situation in which the network would be fluctuating.”

The Student Union Government ((SUG) President of the Plateau State University (PLASU), Bokkos, Ezekiel Dajen Luatei, said many students have indulged themselves in criminal activities during the period in question and some have been arrested as a result.

He too believes many of his peers would not be returning to school because their lives have taken on different causes in the last one year that schools were closed while others might have lost their scholarship or sponsorship as a result of the economic downturn.

Aliyu Abubakar, a 200 level Student at Kaduna State University, said his and his peers’ education have been badly affected by the twin developments.

“My target was to complete my programme in the next two years but since last year, we have stagnated. We don’t even know what is happening, whether we will complete at the stipulated duration of the course or not,” he said.

He said he lost hope because he was tired of hearing every day that ASUU would go on strike and the constant closure of schools due to the pandemic.

Another student of the same institution, Kamal Shehu said, “We have been left behind academically because we overstayed at home.”

Peter Onyewuchi Duru, a 200-level student of Biotechnology at the University of Jos, said the situation has been destabilizing.

“It’s been mentally as well as emotionally destabilizing and I don’t want to venture deep into the economic impact it has on the nation at large. It’s really disheartening to think that a Nigerian student who is meant to spend four years in the university will eventually spend five or more,” he said.

He too is worried about future strikes considering threats by ASUU over non-compliance of the terms of the agreement they entered into with the government.

“I think a state of emergency should be declared in Nigeria’s educational system to permanently tackle the issues of ASUU strike and any other body within the educational system,” he said.

He, however, called on Nigerian schools to invest in e-learning, in the event that an epidemic like COVID-19 happens in the future.

Besides their studies, there are other issues tied to the disrupted academic calender.

Halima Musa, a student at Federal University, Lokoja, said the financial implications are a source of concern because most of them are off-campus students who have already paid rents for their accommodation, which was wasted as schools were closed.

“The landlords have refused to return our money, insisting that the strike wasn’t their fault as such we paid for what we didn’t use,” she lamented.

Rachael Bulus should have graduated with a degree in Estate Management at the University of Jos were it not for the strike and pandemic.

Throughout the strike, she couldn’t find interim employment and now she would have to spend another year at school before proceeding for national service.

According to her, students are not happy and most of them have been depressed at one point or another, especially the final year students.

The Presidency Thursday said various nits of the Nigerian Armed Forces, in coordinated operations, across the country between March 18 and December 30, 2020 had eliminated over 2,403 terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and criminals of other sorts.

Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, stated this in “a checklist of successes of the Nigerian Armed Forces”, released to State House reporters in commemoration of this year’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day.

He said this was in addition to terrorists and bandits killed during air strikes by the Nigeria Air Force.

The checklist segmented the achievements into regions with special attention on the activities in the northeast mostly affected by the activities of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

The checklist also revealed figures of the rescues of kidnapped victims, recoveries of arms and ammunition, as well as those of stolen petroleum products and crude within the period in review.

“The Armed Forces of Nigeria from 18 March to 30 December, 2020 neutralized 2,403 criminal elements (terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, cattle rustlers, etc.) across the country.

“This is in addition to scores of other terrorists and armed bandits killed during air strikes.

“Troops also rescued a total of 864 kidnapped victims across the country. In addition, a total of 9,684,797 litres of stolen AGO and 33,516,000 litres of DPK were recovered.

“Equally, 1,910 criminal elements were arrested and large cache of arms, ammunition and equipment were recovered during the period.

“Furthermore, a total of 46,581.8 barrels of stolen crude oil and 22,881,257 litres of stolen PMS were recovered by the troops of the Armed Forces of Nigeria”, the checklist said.

Meanwhile, the operation mounted to enforce the recently doused partial closure of the nation’s land borders, known as Operation Swift Response (OSR), led to the seizure of smuggled items and products worth N12.5 billion between August 2019 and December 2020 it lasted.

Earlier in Abuja yesterday, the Defence Headquarters had said fewer than 64 terrorists were killed in different encounters in the northeast within one week by the troops of Operation Lafiya Dole and its subsidiary Operation Tura Takaibango.

Coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Defence Headquarters, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja while giving updates on operations of the military.

He said several other terrorists were also killed and 11 terrorists’ gun trucks and other equipment destroyed in massive air strikes by the Air Task Force during the period.

He said the troops had on January 7, raided a Boko Haram terrorists’ enclave at Goniri and Gorgi in Gujba and Damaturu Local Government Areas of Yobe killing scores and recovered 10 gun trucks from the terrorists.

Enenche said the newly inaugurated subsidiary Operation Tura Takaibango had on January 9, killed 28 terrorists at Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe, stressing that several others escaped with gunshot wounds as well as recovery of one-gun truck and cache of arms and ammunition.

“Similarly, on the same day, troops had an encounter with some BHT/ISWAP terrorists at Gonan Kaji Village along Damaturu-Buni Yadi Road in Yobe. During this period, 30 terrorists were killed while caches of arms and ammunition were recovered.

“In same vein, on Jan. 10, troops engaged with some terrorists at Kafa Village in Damboa Local Government Area of Yobe killing six terrorists and recovering one-gun truck and several weapons,” he said.

The Benue State Security Council has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on two Local Governments of the state as part of measure to contain criminal activities in the areas.

The affected LGAs include, Ukum and Katsina-Ala which reportedly became safe haven’s for banditry, kidnapping and armed robbery among other insecurity challenges.

State Deputy Governor, Engr. Benson Abounu, who made this known while briefing journalists at the end of the security council meeting in Makurdi, explained that the curfew remains in force with immediate effect between 8:00pm to 6:00am daily.

‘Ban on use of motorcycles still in force’

Abounu also said that the council resolved to sustain the ban on the use of motorcycles of all kinds in the area pending further review of the security situation.

He however clarified that movement of patients and pregnant women among other very necessary cases for medical attention using motorcycles where there are no vehicular presence would be allowed after thorough investigation.

The deputy governor emphasised that the decision to ban the use of motorcycles in the affected localities followed heinous attacks on residences in the areas which led to the death of many just as he noted that the ban had proven to be very successful.

Abounu however confirmed cases of burning of some motorcycles in the area by alleged security agents but that a stop was put to that action immediately it was brought to the attention of the leadership of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS).