₦airaland Forum

htajz:
almost the same experience i had during my nysc in ekiti, didnt want to share it in nairaland but it seems a nigerian had the same experience in another part of yorubaland.  my point is yorubas should stop mistaking lagos as yorubaland cus the more they do that the more they neglect the core yoruba towns

sirjec:
Do people attempt to bomb church? Stories. So If you see me with bomb you will come to catch me with bare hands as reported. Please release innocent people. Did you catch them with bomb or did you search their minds and found out they are thinking of bombing the church?

Kilode?!:
This is absolutely dangerous, I see nothing good coming out of this deep and illogical mixture of blind ideological religious faith and politics.

Unfortunately the people managing Nigeria don't seem like they know how to fix this. Amnesty will not work, throwing money at them will not work like it did temporarily in the Niger Delta. We will have to have a serious conversation about restructuring this country along more egalitarian lines to fix this. Maybe ultimately allow them to find their own path in a new nation or be here on totally new terms.

JinjaWiid:
As Senegal holds its presidential election Sunday, mediatory role of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the political crisis plaguing the country suffered a setback last night as anti-President Abdoulaye Wade protesters turned down Obasanjo's proposed two-year in office for Wade and ordered the former Nigerian President to leave their country.

Obasanjo, who arrived Senegal last week to mediate a solution to the political standoff in the country, had told the people at a news conference that Wade would step down after two years of his election for a third term in office.

His news conference was however interrupted by anti-Wade protesters who screamed: "Leave our country Mr. Obasanjo. We will never accept it."

Eighty five-year-old Wade has thrown himself up for re-election in today's presidential race. He is, however, running for a third term in office, contrary to the term limits he had introduced into the country's constitution.


http://allafrica.com/stories/201202260194.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/africa/in-northern-nigeria-boko-haram-stirs-fear-and-sympathy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

By ADAM NOSSITER
Musa Ibrahim contributed reporting.
Published: February 25, 2012

KANO, Nigeria — In an imam’s quiet office, two young men in long hooded robes, their faces hidden by checked scarves, calmly described their deadly war against the Nigerian state.

The office door was open. Children from the Koranic school adjoining the mosque streamed past, laughing and jostling. Worshipers from the evening prayer service, which the young men had just left, poured into the parking lot. If the police had been alerted in any way, the two young men would have been instantly arrested, or worse. But neither appeared nervous about possible betrayal.

“It is not the people of Nigeria, it is only the army and the police who are against us,” said one of the men, explaining their membership in Boko Haram, the militant group that has claimed responsibility for killing hundreds in its battle against the Nigerian government. “Millions of people in Kano State are supporting us.”

His bravado notwithstanding, the violent Islamist army operating out of these dusty alleyways, ready to lash out and quickly fade back, is deeply enmeshed in the fabric of life in this sprawling metropolis, succored by an uneasy mix of fear and sympathy among the millions of impoverished people here.

The group’s lethality is undeniable. Boko Haram unleashed a hail of bullets and homemade bombs here last month to deadly effect: as many as 300 were killed in a few hours in the group’s deadliest and most organized assault yet after two years of attacks across northern Nigeria. It was an unprecedented wave of coordinated suicide bombing, sustained gunfire and explosions, much of it directed against the police.

But while Western and local officials cite the militants’ growing links to terrorist organizations in the region — presenting the ties as a reason behind the group’s increasingly deadly tactics and a cause for global concern — Boko Haram is not the imported, “foreign” menace Nigerian authorities depict it to be.

Since 2009, the group has killed well over 900 people, Human Rights Watch says. Yet on the streets of Kano, the government is more readily denounced than the militants. Anger at the pervasive squalor, not at the recent violence, dominates. Crowds quickly gather around to voice their heated discontent, not with Boko Haram, but with what they describe as a shared enemy: the Nigerian state, seen by the poor here as a purveyor of inequality.

“People are supporting them because the government is cheating them,” said Mohammed Ghali, the imam at the mosque where the two Boko Haram members pray. Imam Ghali is known as an intermediary between the militants and the authorities, and while open backing for the group can put almost anyone in the cross hairs of the Nigerian security services, there appears to be no shortage of Boko Haram supporters here.

“At any time I am ready to join them, to fight injustice in this country,” said Abdullahi Garba, a candy vendor who came into Imam Ghali’s office.

Of course, Boko Haram is feared and loathed by countless residents as well. Its brutal show of firepower here in Kano, a commercial center of about four million that for centuries has been a major entrepôt at the Sahara’s edge, has left many residents in shock. The attackers came on foot, by motorcycle and by car, throwing fertilizer bombs and pulling rifles from rice sacks, mowing down anybody who appeared to be in uniform. There were even decapitated bodies among the mounds of corpses the day after, said a witness, Nasir Adhama, who owns a textile factory with his family near one of the attack sites.

“When you saw this road, it was just shed with blood,” Mr. Adhama said. “Everywhere there were dead bodies. They passed through this place, just firing and shooting.”

One of the young men at the mosque said he had participated in the planning for the attack, asserting that the group had received no outside help.

But a United Nations report published in January cited regional officials as saying that “Boko Haram had established links with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,” and that “some of its members from Nigeria and Chad had received training in Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb camps in Mali during the summer of 2011.” Seven Boko Haram members passing through Niger were arrested with “names and contact details” of members of the Qaeda affiliate, the United Nations report said.

For now, Boko Haram’s targets remain largely local, despite its bombing of a United Nations headquarters in Abuja, the capital, last summer. The Nigerian state is typically the enemy, and many analysts see the nation’s enduring poverty as one reason.

This month figures were released in Abuja indicating that poverty has increased since 2004, despite the nation’s oil wealth; in the north, Boko Haram’s stronghold, about 75 percent of the population is considered poor. Overall, 60 percent live on less than $1 a day. Every citizen appears aware of the glaring contrast between his or her own life and those of the elite.

Ado Ibrahim, a 22-year-old sugar cane vendor wearing a yellow soccer jersey, suspected more violence could be ahead.

“Injustice, and misgovernance by officials,” he said, adding, “It’s possible, as long as injustice persists, it’s possible to have another flare-up.”

Down the street, squatting in his open-air stall where he sells cooked yams, Abdullahi Dantsabe had a similar point of view. Why had the attacks occurred? “Injustice,” he said. “The leaders are not concerned about the common man.”

One resident argued that Boko Haram made some effort to protect civilians. “They told us to move away,” said Mohammed Danami, a motorcycle taxi driver, describing a devastating police station attack on Jan. 25. “They said, ‘We are not here for you,’ ” he recalled.

But the fate of Alhaji Muhammadu suggests otherwise. He was fatally shot on Feb. 9 as he walked along a sandy alley to his cinder-block home. His son said that his father had alerted the police to a bosom-trapped car in the neighborhood, several days before the shooting. Boko Haram found out. Two masked men on a motorcycle shouted: “Just try that again. Now you are dead,” recalled the son, Sudaifu Muhammadu, a 27-year-old student at Bayero University, shuddering.

“They are all around,” Mr. Muhammadu said.

Last July the Nigerian news media reported on a letter of warning from the group to Kano’s leaders, including the emir, the traditional ruler of this ancient aristocratic city: “All those arrested should be released immediately, otherwise, I swear with Almighty Allah, we may be forced to deploy our men to Kano,” the letter said.

Six months later, on Jan. 20, the group struck. The planning had gone on under the noses of the authorities. “What happened in Kano was something which the security agencies had foreseen,” said Dr. Bashir Aliyu, a prominent imam in Kano.

There were up to five suicide bombers that day, at least 20 explosions, assaults on what were thought to be well-guarded state and regional police headquarters, on the State Security Service, an immigration office and the residence of a high police official. Gunmen entered a police barracks and opened fire, killing dozens.

Kano officials have said little since the attacks, and the precise sequence of events that day remains a mystery. The police commissioner here declined requests for an interview, and the state’s information commissioner did not respond to a message or phone calls.

An elderly aristocrat with connections to the royal palace here, Yusuf Maitama Sule — Nigeria’s former United Nations ambassador, he was one of those to whom Boko Haram’s letter was addressed, according to the Nigerian media — said in an interview at his home here: “We are making some efforts quietly. I don’t think it is proper for me to speak out.”

Mr. Sule acknowledged, however, that the country faced deep social and economic challenges.

“Because of this oil habit, we are sending our girlfriends to do their hair in Paris,” he said.

For some analysts, the challenge posed by Boko Haram is a serious one for the Nigerian government.

“They’ve built cells in Kano,” said Paul Lubeck, a northern Nigeria expert at the University of California, Santa Cruz. “They have much deeper networks in Kano than anybody ever assumed. My position is, this is a remarkably successful insurrection, more than anybody ever could have thought.”

In the imam’s office, the two young men spoke calmly and confidently of ultimate triumph. “God has already positioned us to follow his rule,” said one of the men, 25. “At any time, we can gain victory. Because God will give it to us.”

Jeel:
Sahara reporters are always bias with their approach to reporting

Beaf:
^
Dude, forget about GEJ's election and make your point. If you can't, then you would actually be perceived to have no point outside the need to express bitterness. Seen?

Up ACN!

Beaf:
Hmm! It really does seem that I'm the only arguing from the persperctive of GEJ's election (especially with the bolded). LOLZZZ!!!!
Try to sound fairer so you can come across as being rational. Rather than making a case about what is wrong with core-Northern elections, you seem to be bitter against GEJ and launching an incoherent side-swipe against him.

Sound fairer. And yes, I do believe that ACN would have won the Sokoto election (Bayelsa too), if not for "rigging." Please don't let that upset you.

Beaf:
^
Nah, you ain't talking about PDP or ACN, you just mistakenly mentioned GEJ's election in your unfortunate opening salvo.
But why are you so upset that I believe ACN would have won the election in Sokoto if it wasn't "rigged?" LOLZZZZZ!!!!

Learn to sound fairer next time. Everybody knows the problems of child votes and accompanying violence in the core-North.

Beaf:
This is quite foolish.
States have been given the go-ahead to generate power. Maybe Rotimi Agunsoye has been smoking stuff.

Beaf:
Yeah, ACN would have won the Sokoto election, but it was "rigged."

Crap.

[url]http://saharareporters.com/news-page/how-police-used-%E2%80%98strategic-insecurity%E2%80%99-sokoto-state%E2%80%99s-election[/url]
February 24, 2012 - 19:15
By Peter Nkanga

[b]Underage voters with fake voter's cards, missing voters registers, ‘strategic’ insecurity leading to excessive violence and snatched ballot boxes, characterised last Saturday's gubernatorial election held in Sokoto State, North West Nigeria.

Scores of observers from several civil society organisations witnessed an indiscriminate number of children below the mandatory voting age of 18 years flagrantly voting at polling units across the state's 23 local government areas.
 
In numerous places, the election was wrought with fraud, as underage voters, aided by policemen, immigration officers and other security personnel, brandished fake voter's cards which they presented to officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for accreditation and voting.
 
A video recording of the election at Shiyar Rafi Polling Unit in Tureta Local Government showed a policeman guiding several minors to queue along with adults. A closer inspection of their voter's cards stated "Asarara" as the same address for all the children born of different parents. Their cards also claimed they were all 18-year-old students, curiously born on the same day of January 1, 1993.
 
But more fraudulent was the date of issue on their voter's cards: January 22, 2012. Only cards issued before the 2011 general elections were authorised for the Sokoto governorship election, INEC spokesman, Kayode Idowu, affirmed.[/b]
 
He said that unlike previous elections held in Kogi, Adamawa and Bayelsa States where updated registers were used, INEC didn’t meet the Electoral Act's requirements to use an updated voter's register in Sokoto State.
 
“The Electoral Act requires us to update an initial register 30 days before an election, which we couldn’t do because of the allowance we didn’t have. So though we have an updated register for Sokoto, we used the register that we compiled in January last year for Sokoto election,” Idowu said.
 
“Those who were not 18 as at January 2011 but who turned 18 and were captured for the update of the register sometime about a month or two ago, those people could not even vote in the Saturday election because we could not use the register that was updated for Saturday election”.
 
Reality on ground in Sokoto however showed underage voters had a filled day at the polls which saw the former governor, Aliyu Wamakko of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), return for another four year tenure with an astounding win of 518,247 votes from the total 728,108 votes cast.
 
Agents of political parties were quick to pass the buck. When asked why they were allowing minors to vote, they would respond: "It's not our business. Ask security". One policeman when questioned why he was condoning the illegal act, shrugged and replied, "Wetin you want make I do now?"
 
In several communities where underage voting took place, elders like Mohammed Adamu proffered 'stunted growth' caused by socio economic hardship and extreme weather conditions as the excuse for the stature of the children he claimed are adults.
 
"They are up to 18 years. Why? Because we have problem here," Adamu said. "One, overwork will make a person not to become bigger. Two, they are illiterate people. They don’t have enough education to give them diet food. This is another problem which all our areas we are facing. Also because of hot sun our people here they will not fit to become big."
 
But for election observers like Chinedu Nwagu of the CLEEN Foundation, a non-governmental organisation which since 2003 has been monitoring the conduct of security operatives on election duty, the truth is glaring.
 
"These are children who are obviously not up to 18. There is no mistaking it," said Nwagu while observing at Kware Road Polling Unit in Wamakko Local Government Area. "I asked one who told me he is 18, born in 1994. But then that would mean when he registered in 2011, he was 17, which is illegal."
 
Several other mysterious happenings occurred in Wamakko LGA, the re-elected governor's constituency. While accreditation started as late as 10:30am in several places, the original electronic printout of registers having the pictures of voters disappeared on election day.  Arkilla Registration Area with 37 Polling Stations having the highest number of 42,929 registered voters in Wamakko LGA was a case in point.
 
"At the collation centre, they said they couldn't find the [electronic] register. So we were given the manual register to use," said Lydia Ibiloye, a National Youth Service Corps member who was the Presiding Officer at Kware Road Polling Unit under Arkilla.
 
Dayyabu Zakari who was the supervising presiding officer for Arkilla Registration Area said there was a "mix-up" of voters' registers. He said on the instructions of an INEC national commissioner, the manual registers which bear no image of voters were used.
 
"One Polling Unit's printout was taken to another Polling Unit. Almost all the polling units were affected. About 27 or so," Zakari said. "Since we cannot assemble all the registers and sort everything according to polling unit, we said we should rush and get the manual register because the printout is a product of the manual register."
 
The true picture on ground according to Ibiloye was, "the manual register did not have many people's names in it. So we had to ask them to write their names on paper before they vote".
 
Wamakko LG was arguably the worst local government where voting held, INEC officials said, as it was discovered only six Polling Units of a total of 177 Polling Units had voting cubicles. It was a case of open voting where people gathered around you to see who you were voting for. Nothing changed even after the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Sokoto State was duly informed.
 
Also worrisome was the "excessive violence" across several of the 3,035 polling units in the state's three senatorial districts, as reported by Local Government Returning Officers during their presentation of results to the State Returning Officer, Abdullahi Zuru.
 
Violent political thugs, popularly known as 'Area Boys,' went on a rampage snatching election material including ballot boxes in Wamakko LG; Sabon Birni LG; Gada LG; Kebbe LG; Goronyo LG; Sokoto North LG; Dange Shuni LG; Illela LG; Gwadabawa LG; Yabo LG; Wurno LG; Tambuwal LG; amongst others, leading to the cancellation of results of several polling units.
 
Even election monitors were not safe, as Aliyu Mohammed, an observer with the Centre for Peace Building and Socio-Economic Resources Development (CePSERD) narrated how “we ran for our lives” after a truck full of knives-carrying thugs descended on a Polling Unit in Yabo Local Government, “chased everyone away”, carted the ballot papers and then “started burning tires”.
 
“The security deployment was just terrible,” noted Nwagu, the Manager of CLEEN Foundation’s Accountability and Justice Division, while condemning as “very worrisome” the use of local government controlled vigilante (informal police) groups to secure polling units. “The security scare, particularly the presence of area boys, influenced a lot of irregularities. I wouldn’t score the Police twenty percent.”
 
Senior INEC officials, at a meeting held at the Sokoto Guest Inn at about 9pm after the day’s election, however revealed to observer groups from the International Republican Institute (IRI), Project Swift Count, the Federation of Muslim Women's Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN), the Organisation of Justice for Equity Sustenance, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), amongst others, that the insecurity in the state was “actually a strategy” which allowed underhand activities take place.
 
“The police failed,” senior INEC officials told the observers. “INEC as an organization had a list of identified flashpoints known for recurrence of violence, thuggery, and area boys. INEC gave the police all that information and the police still posted nobody to these areas. Instead they were seen at road blocks when they were needed in polling units.”
 
Amidst the gross insecurity, some Youth Corps members are believed to have made some 'fast' cash from politicians. Amongst a group of corps members discussing, it was mentioned that a Presiding Officer and other INEC officials In Tambuwal LG, the constituency of Nigeria's House of Representatives Speaker, ‘received’ N50,000 from a politician in exchange for ballot papers.
 
For other NYSC ad-hoc staff who refused to ‘play ball’, they also had their share of events as they worked in fear, especially as the language and cultural barrier posed a major hindrance.
 
The Wurno Local Government Returning Officer reported how in Kwargaba Polling Station, the Presiding Officer was "threatened with dangerous weapons" for challenging political thugs who had insisted voters show them who they were voting for before casting their vote. In Chimmola Kudu in Gwadabawa Local Government, the Presiding Officer was ''forced" to accredit and allow unqualified people vote, also disclosed the returning officer for the local government.
 
The threat Youth Corps members faced was however only fully realized during the meeting of INEC officials with observers. Responding to a comment from a representative from the National Democratic Institute on how NYSC ad-hoc staff were seen hiding their identity, a senior INEC official disclosed several Youth Corps members had been held hostage late into the night.
 
“As at one hour ago we just rescued the last batch of corps members. They were held under hostage. Today we saved so many of them. They kept calling that please they want to lynch them,” the official said. “Most of the corps members had to hide what they were even wearing as corps members. So the issue of corps members not wearing their uniform was for security,”
 
While another “major problem” encountered was how INEC identification, mostly ‘Presiding Officer’ tags, had “flooded the state” before the start of the election, concerns were raised about security preparedness for the February 25th governorship election in Cross River State, in Southern Nigeria.
 
Several lessons should be learnt from this election, Nwagu told a roomful of journalists during CLEEN Foundation’s release of its preliminary statement on the conduct of security operatives during the Sokoto election.
 
“Security officials should be better coordinated and priority should be given to security presence at polling units,” the lawyer and security expert said. “Security officials should be given more training in crowd control. They should be better equipped to manage conflict situations, and be directed to arrest and prosecute political thugs irrespective of their

-Kills 4 policemen in Kano, Niger
-As US offers support to Nigeria

Written by James Bwala, Kola Oyelere and Adelowo Oladipo, With Agency Reports Friday, 24 February 2012

A primary school situated at Abaganaram ward of Maiduguri metropolis was set ablaze on Wednesday night by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect, residents of the area alleged.

When Nigerian Tribune went to the area at about 4.00 p.m., it was discovered that the fire started at about 12.00 p.m until the morning on Thursday.

A resident, who spoke to Nigerian Tribune on the incident, said people were alleging that the fire was set by members of the Boko Haram sect.

“We saw the smoke and we began to wonder because earlier, there were gunshots around here and people locked themselves in their homes. Later, somebody said there was fire on a building. We were all afraid to go out but this morning, they were saying it was Boko Haram, so, we did not know whether it was Boko Haram or those boys that always smoke Indian hemp at the school,” Maman Bala told Nigerian Tribune.

According to her, some young men are in the habit of smoking Indian hemp at the primary school, adding that the police had come on many occasions to arrest them but they would be released later and they would return to the school to smoke.

She wondered why Boko Haram would set a school ablaze when there was nobody in the school.

“I don’t think this was Boko Haram. They always say Boko Haram for everything now, but I think those boys smoking were responsible for the burning.’’

The police, on Thursday, again fell victim to the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect in Kano and Niger states, as members of the sect killed four policemen while two others sustained varying degrees of injury.

The police command said 15 suspects had subsequently been arrested.

However, there were conflicting report as to the actual location where the four policemen were killed. A source said that the attack was very close to the new Inspector of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, a police source disclosed that the incident occurred on the Bayero University Kano (BUK) road, after Gidan Murtala in Kano metropolis.

According to a statement issued and signed by the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Magaji Musa Majiya and made available to the Nigerian Tribune, gunmen killed two policemen, injured two others who were on patrol on the Bayero University Kano (BUK) road.

He said: “Today, Thursday, February 23, 2012, at about 08:30hrs, on BUK road by Island after Gidan Murtala, unknown gunmen on four motorcycles attacked our policemen on foot patrol.

‘’As a result of the attack, two died on the spot, while two were injured and are now receiving treatment at Hospital.’’

ASP Majia added that military helicopter was sighted hovering over the area, while the road is also jampacked with heavy traffic due to through search and check by the combined team of the policemen and soldiers.

The spokesman for the Joint Task Force in Kano State, Lieutenant Ikedichi Iweha, confirmed the arrest, saying the security operatives searched the area and arrested four suspects.

He disclosed that the suspects were arrested during a gun duel at Hotoro General area and declined to give further details of causalities during the attack.

In a related development, an unconfirmed report said that on Wednsday night, at Naibawa park, on the outskirts of Kano, four gunmen killed a civilian and went away with his Toyota Camry car.

An eyewitness said the four gunmen shot the owner of the car while he was about to open the door of the car.

He said that immediately they shot the man, he fell and the suspected gunmen drove away the car.

However, all efforts to confirm the incident proved abortive.

In Niger State, tragedy struck in Minna, on Wednesday night, following the killing of two policemen attached to the state police command by suspected members of Boko Haram sect, while the slain policemen were on a stop and search duty at the city gate on the Minna-Paiko/Suleja expressway on the outskirts of the state capital.

The killing of the two policemen occurred barely one week after a similar incident occured in the state capital, when some fleeing gunmen suspected to be members of the sect killed three policemen, including an Inspector of Police and a police sergeant, at the General M.I Wushishi Housing Estate, at the Eastern bye-pass area of the state capital and a police corporal at Maje community, in Suleja Local Government area of the state.

Nigerian Tribune investigation further revealed that the attack on Wednesday had caused apprehension among the residents in the state.

Nigerian Tribune further learnt that the two policemen, whose identities were unknown at the time of filing this report, were killed by some fleeing gunmen at about 9.30 p.m. at a police nipping point in Minna.

Meanwhile, when contacted by telephone, the spokesman for the state police command, Mr Richard Oguche (ASP), confirmed the attack but declined to give further details.

He said: “Please, I will call you back. I am going to see my commissioner. Two of our men have just been killed at Tunga. I will call back to give details.’’

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria said, on Thursday, that his country was offering support for the Nigeria’s fight against the Boko Haram sect, but ruled out sending troops into a region vital to American oil supplies.

Ambassador Terence McCulley said the United States (US) was encouraging Nigeria to reach out to residents in the North while using security forces to target and apprehend terrorists.

He said the US was also considering opening a consulate in Kano, the biggest city in Nigeria’s North, to burnish America’s own image in a region where many people were still suspicious of the Western influence.

However, he was unequivocal when asked in an interview with the Associated Press whether US troops should be deployed in Nigeria.

“That’s not on the table. No, absolutely not.

“It’s of a great concern to us. We’ve seen an increase in sophistication, we’ve seen increased lethality. We saw at least a part of the group has decided it’s in their interest to attack the international community.

“It’s not going to be solved exclusively by treating it as a security issue,” McCulley said, adding that “it needs a holistic solution. Government needs clearly to have a targeted approach on security that targets the bad guys that target perpetrators of these horrible attacks and don’t injure innocent civilians or damage property.”

While McCulley declined to give details, he said that “adequate systems” were now in place to receive such warnings and that the US maintained “robust relations” with Nigerian intelligence agencies.

Jakumo:
Future president Fashola once again places Lagos State on the leading edge of civilized modernization, now by recognizing the adverse effects of sleep deprivation and other maladies resultant from exposure to noise pollution, and taking real steps to protect the health of his constituent citizenry.

If God is truly all-seeing and more importantly all-hearing, then it should NOT be necessary to conduct religious observances in such a manner as to disturb the peace of the general public by deploying power-amplifiers coupled to earth-shaking, ghetto-blaster speakers.  By applying sanctions against places of worship that hitherto assaulted the ears of all within earshot around the clock in Lagos State,  Governor Fashola has boldly taken his stand on the side of simple human decency, which begins with consideration for others by individuals AND institutions.

Governors from the remaining states of the Nigerian federation would do well to take yet another page from the Fashola Doctrine, this time on the core subject of how to align with the civilized world by prioritizing basic human rights, prominent among which is the guaranteed right to peace and quiet for at least some specified hours of each day and night cycle.   

Bravo Governor Fashola S.A.N, you's still DA MAN !

jedisco:
Like it or not PDP is the only party with not just a national spread but also a national ideology.

I think from the recent past those putting Nigerias problems on PDP are not telling themselves the truth.
We all know how people jump from party to party during elections and all of a sudden we make a rouge a saint just because he has changed his party or is it that of a man installing his family members to run for any political position he likes
I can go on and list alot of governors both from PDP and the opposition who performed excellently and also those who did poorly.
I think we should be objective in our criticisms and not just because of someones party. I think any official that wants to work will do so irrespective of his party.

@alj harem
So are you saying we should vote people from the opposition just because they are from another party?
I really believe that no other party would have performed better than PDP all this while. Afterall is it not thesame politicians?

dejust:
The governor elect should carry everybody along.

kutchs:
Like it or hate it PDP is winning bc it is the only party with a national spread. Others are just ‘localised‘.

igbaodun:
You dont get the point, do you?

Its not Fashola's job to commission water projects, the LG should do that. In this day and age, Fashola should be commissioning bigger and bolder projects, not mundane stuff. This is the governor of Lagos state we are talking about here!!!  If we have learned anything in the last few decades, it is that  commissioning water projects to great fanfare and cutting ribbons for mundane stuff is no longer an effective measure of good governance at the state level.  We have seen that the state government aren't that great with follow-ups and maintenance; after all, they are very far away from the LG level/people most affected. As far as I can tell, good governance at the state level involves strategic planning, qualitative education and adequate healthcare and adequate & regulatory oversight on the quality of water that is produced etc, not just to a segment of the population or to the people closest to the governor and its aides, but to the whole state it its entirety.

So I'm proposing a radical shift in rhetoric: Any future project that would be commissioned by the state CEO should be well thought-out and with the whole state in mind, not just a segment, and with the view of granting more autonomy to the LG to be able to do their job, not because it is the right thing to do, but because the LG are closest to the people and know what is most needed by the people than the  highfalutin faraway state executive. Yes, when an overbearing state executive commission an overpriced waterworks, it helps the people in that locality and no doubt local government too. But let's not undermine the LG in the process.  In any ordinary moral calculus, the LG comes first and should be the one dealing with issues the Lagos State Government is ever eager to incompetently attend to, rendering the LG redundant not withstanding.

Beaf:
^
The day you see the logic is the day you will finally understand how people have been pissing on your head and you've been heartily gulping down the stuff. You will also understand that a governors job is to actually generate local wellbeing, wealth and industry; not take photographs of failure to severe their states off the Abuja beggars umbilical cord. Practically all states are guilty of this, but the people have been so traumatised by military rule that they can longer tell whether the vehicle is headed backwards or forwards. Imagine celebrating a water project like God has come down?

I will repeat that such water projects are within the purview of Local govts, not the state govt. If you rise to cheer your governor for delivering what is expected of LG bosses, then you are a mere statistic to be trampled.

Governors like Akpabio don't need to broadcast, you just can't miss a state where capital expenditure is 83% of its budget - Fashola can only boast about half of that, where is the rest of the money going?. Not just spending 83%, Akwa Ibomites are not going around screaming to God about how they have dug boreholes. If they did that, what would be left for them to do after they have completed airports, deep sea ports, massive power stations etc? If people like you were from Akwa Ibom, they would already have built shrines to worship a mere mortal like themselves who is doing his job (and bloody doing it well).

What we are witnessing is a cult of stup!dity.

Beaf:
Lol! "Fashola goes to toilet," lets put it on NL!
I am sick of seeing governors cutting tapes to mundane things and screaming to high heavens like they invented Jesus and his miracles.

It is even the local government chairmans job to provide and launch water projects.

Of all the states in the country, the only one that should be screaming is Akwa Ibom. That is the state with the record allocation for capital projects in Nigeria; a whopping 83%. I don't want to see any governor that is spending 50% of his states allocation on political gifts and bureaucracy attempting to pass that off as "performance." We are no longer deceived by eye candy.

After 51 years of independence, each state should be financially self sufficient; instead, the governors hover about the place, begging Abuja for money and posing with projects that are within the remit of local governments.

Akwa Ibom is building a deep sea port, massive power stations etc. Thats the kind of thing I want to hear, not not stories about mickey mouse launches of boreholes and water filters.

alex_101:
@ OP, May God bless you and may your days be long for this wonderful thread of yours  . The truth hurts!

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/how-n41m-tore-boko-haram-apart-qaqa/
On February 14, 2012 · In News
BY JIDE AJANI & KINGSLEY OMONOBI

ABUJA—Another fresh revelation coming out from the interrogation room of the Department of State Services, DSS, in the on-going “PROCESSING” of Abu Qaqa, the spokesman for the dreaded Jamaatu Ahlil Sunna Lidawati wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, was how N41m reportedly procured by some members tore the sect apart.

Indeed, an instance of “N41 million” was reportedly mentioned by Qaqa during investigation.



Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the alleged mastermind of the Christmas Day bombing in Madalla, Suleja, Mallam Kabiru Abubakar Dikko (a.k.a Kabiru SOKOTO) may be charged to court soon. Attempts to confirm this, yesterday, did not succeed.

A source privy to the on-going interrogation told Vanguard that Qaqa explained to his interrogators that “a major source of distrust and acrimony in the group was a N41million that was not accounted for”.

Sources close to the interrogation provided information to Vanguard which suggested that the money which was realised sometime in January may be the instance in question.

Qaqa also reportedly told his interrogators that “Normally, the money is supposed to be shared to five groups: the less privileged, widows of those that died in the Jihad, Zakat, those that brought in the money, and the last to the leadership to be used in prosecuting the Jihad.

“We don’t know how this money was spent and nobody dare asked questions for fear of death. Even those that took part in the operation to raise the money were also always compelled to pay Zakat on their share to the leadership. The leader, Imam Shekau appropriates what goes to the widows, less privileged, Zakat and leadership.

“The leadership also gives out wives of those killed the way he wants and marry some in the name of giving them protection.”

“Everyone lived in fear more of leadership of the group even than security agencies. For instance, I never for once believed I could be arrested. I thought I was invincible. But now I’ve realised that if I could be arrested, if Abdullahi Damasak, the spiritual adviser, could disappear (arrested), then it’s a matter of time before everyone is caught”.

It will be recalled that Vanguard had exclusively published snippets of the very early confessional statements credited to Qaqa penultimate week.

And last week, Qaqa reportedly told his interrogators that “before I was arrested some of us had already shown signs of tiredness. Most of us were tired of fighting but we couldn’t come out to say so because of fear of reprisal from Shekau on dissenting members. Several of our members that denounced the violent struggle were slaughtered in front of their wives and children. Seven were killed recently.

“Besides some of us, the non-Kanuris (Hausa, Fulani and others), in the sect were worried at the trend of arrest of our members. It is either that the security agents were so good at their job or some of our members were moles giving us out. The worrying aspect was that most of our key members arrested were non-Kanuris which raised fears that there’s sectional betrayal of members”.

Kabir Sokoto to be arraigned soon

Vanguard was made to understand that Kabir may be charged to court soon.

This indication, a source hinted, “is not unconnected with the issue raised last week while he was being paraded as to his rights, which are being acknowledged. “What may likely happen is that before people begin to raise alarm he may be charged to court; at least having paraded him before you people (media)”.

And whereas the source declined to give a date, Vanguard discovered that once he has been “thoroughly processed”, he would be charged to court.

IG orders re-arrest of freed Boko Haram suspects

Meanwhile against the backdrop of Boko Haram’s ceaseless bombing of Police Stations in many northern states and inability of Police personnel to confront them anytime the sect members carried out such raids, Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar yesterday threatened to sanction Assistant Commissioners of Police in charge of Operations (AC Ops) as well as those in charge of investigations (AC CIDs) in the states commands over what he described as their inefficiency in tackling or preventing such attacks.

The IG issued the threat even as he directed the immediate dismantling of Police check-points and squads across the country noting that the check points have since deviated from the purpose for which they were established and turned into avenues for corruption and extortion of innocent Nigerians.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that the IGP is dissatisfied with the way many cases of Boko Haram suspects arrested in the past by the Police under his predecessors were handled, as many of them were believed to have been let off the hook without proper investigation or commensurate punishment being meted out to them.

Speaking at a meeting with all the AC-Ops and AC- CID’s from the 36 states and Abuja, Abubakar emphasized that the decision to dismantle checkpoints became necessary because it has been abused by Police personnel often posted to man such points.

Describing the situation as unfortunate, the IG particularly mentioned such states as Delta, Lagos, Edo, and the Eastern parts of the country where such cases of extortion and corruption leading to accidental discharge are rampant adding that we cannot continue turn a blind eye to these embarrassing situation.

The IG also took a swipe at Police officers who have come to see corruption as a way of life pointing out that such corrupt tendencies were the causes of extra-judicial killings, in some Police Stations in the country. He therefore demanded a change of attitude from the officers insisting that those who are not willing to move with the wind of change and transformation were free to make a choice of be shown the way out.

On attacks by Boko Haram on Police stations in parts of the country which he regretted were being done with impunity, Abubakar said, ‘it is the inefficiency of assistant Commissioners of Police in some states that has led to this unbridled bombings of police stations in some northern states of late”.

Consequently, he demanded for more commitment, responsiveness, and the willingness on the part of the senior officers, to embrace new initiatives in crime fighting and prevention.

Also, having gone through the case files of scores of Boko Haram suspects arrested in the past for the sects bombings, attacks and destruction of property and the manner they were left to go scot-free, which inadvertently may have embolden the sect members to commit more harm, the IG has constituted a Committee to review all cases of Boko Haram suspects arrested between 2010 till date and were released on bail.

Vanguard gathered that the IGP was not happy with what he saw when he went through the files of all the Boko Haram suspects arrested and the manner many of them were released without conclusive investigations.

He consequently directed the committee to study all the case files, harmonize them and find any possible means of re-arresting the suspects.

Vanguard was told that the IGP expressed the belief that if the investigations were properly carried out and the suspects given appropriate punishment, by now the key members and sponsors of Boko Haram would have been tamed before they got out of hand.

The committee, which has commenced work has since requested all state Police Commissioners state affected by Boko Haram activities to forward all cases of Boko Haram suspects to them.

INSIGHT: Arms and men out of Libya fortify Mali rebellionhttp://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE81909Q20120210?sp=true

Fri Feb 10, 2012 3:28pm GMT

By David Lewis and Adama Diarra

DAKAR/KIDAL, Mali (Reuters) - Equipped with heavy weapons from Muammar Gaddafi's looted arsenals, the Tuareg-led rebels who assaulted the town of Aguelhoc in northern Mali last month overwhelmed the remote garrison.

Fighters hardened by combat in Libya swelled the ranks of the desert insurgents who in their first attack on January 18 surrounded the local army base with machinegun-mounted four-wheel drive vehicles. They destroyed army communications, local cellphone towers and laid down a barrage of mortar fire.

After cutting off water supplies and ambushing resupply convoys, they came back a week later to overrun the base.

"They had the advantage of being more numerous, being better armed and having better logistics, including satellite phones," a Malian government soldier who took part in the fighting told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"It is the sad truth," he added.

As the anniversary of the February 17 uprising against Gaddafi approaches, Mali and other states to the south are paying a price for the revolution by Western-backed insurgents in Libya.

The flood of weapons and fighters out of Libya has now added to an arc of insecurity across West Africa, stretching from Boko Haram Islamists behind a spate of lethal bombings in Nigeria to al Qaeda allies who have targeted Westerners and armed forces in the Sahel all the way to Mauritania in the north.

Mali is no stranger to rebellions - this is the fourth led by the Tuareg nomads of the north since independence from France in 1960. The last ended only in 2008.

But this time the turbaned rebels' arsenal includes SA-7, SA-24 and Milan portable missile systems, according to the Malian soldier who faced them.

And rather than just melting back into the desert after an attack, the new firepower has emboldened them to take on the army on three fronts and resist helicopter gunships.

A Malian defence ministry official, who also asked not to be named, said the rebels were equipped "just like Libya's army", with heavy machine guns on four-wheel drive vehicles, anti-tank and anti-aircraft rockets as well as light weapons.

"In other rebellions, they have been under-equipped," said Jeremy Keenan, a Sahara expert who has long studied the Tuareg.

"These guys back from Libya have heavier arms and they know how to use them," he said of the MNLA, or National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad.

This is the name the rebels give to the homeland they would like to carve out of three regions in Mali's north.

It is the latest security challenge for a Malian government 1,500 km (900 miles) away in Bamako, which has already failed to stop allies of al Qaeda implanting themselves on parts of its remote north and using it as a base to hold Western hostages.

Since the fighting in Mali erupted in mid-January, dozens have been reported killed on both sides and at least 60,000 civilians have fled their homes in a Sahel region already facing a humanitarian crisis from the latest of its recurrent droughts.

Anti-terrorism training and cooperation between the Malian government and key allies like the United States and Algeria have been disrupted. The fighting could also force Mali to postpone a planned April 29 election.

Bamako accuses the MNLA of joining forces with al Qaeda's North African wing, AQIM, in the Aguelhoc attack. Several soldiers involved said they faced bearded fighters in Afghan-style dress. One resident who helped bury the dead said more than 115 soldiers were killed, many with their hands bound.

The MNLA rejects the charges, accusing the government of seeking to discredit it and scare the West.

OASIS CONCLAVE

While decades of frustrations over unfulfilled peace deals and underdevelopment simmer in Mali's north, the trigger for the emergence of the MNLA, a force estimated by diplomats and analysts to be 1,000-strong, was the fallout from Libya's war.

Three months after Gaddafi's death, Libya's new leaders are still struggling to impose their authority on the country and do not have full control of their borders that have been leaking arms and fighters into neighbouring states to the south.

As Gaddafi's regime collapsed, hundreds of armed Malian Tuareg recruited into his army over the years started returning home, where job prospects are bleak and the national government holds little sway.

Some handed their weapons back to the Malian authorities and have since become civilians or joined the army. Others didn't.

In October, these fighters gathered in the oasis settlement of Zakak in hills by the border with Algeria. They were joined by career rebels, Malian army deserters and young, internet-savvy activists in a conclave that gave birth to the MNLA.

Some of those who returned from Libya were recently hired guns. But many, like Colonel Mahamed Ag Najim who is now the MNLA's top military commander, are battle-hardened veterans who served in Gaddafi's ranks for years.

They were joined by men who fought under late rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga, who died in a car crash last year just as he was laying the groundwork for the rebellion, and by members of the homegrown youth-led MNA movement that emerged in 2010.

"This year we have all the generations together," senior France-based MNLA official Hama Ag Sid'Ahmed said by phone.

Adding to Bamako's woes, Tuareg soldiers who were integrated into the Malian army after the last rebellion and have an intimate knowledge of the local terrain have deserted in their droves, Malian officials say.

As the well-armed newcomers drifted home late last year, the government dispatched delegations to try and head off trouble. The group that rejected government appeals to hand over weapons went on to form the rebellion's core.

A Reuters journalist who visited one of the groups in Mali that decided to hand over their weapons saw four-wheel drives mounted with 14.5 mm machineguns and multiple rocket launchers.

"They feel strong because they have the weapons and are ready to use them," said El Hadj Baba Haidara, parliament deputy for the northern town of Timbuktu, who took part in the talks.

"When we heard their tone and saw them planting the (Azawad) flag, we suggested (Bamako) should act quickly to open talks but also make military preparations ,  But the government wasn't quick enough," Haidara added.

AMBITIOUS BID FOR HOMELAND

Tuareg nomads who roam the vast desert spaces between Mali, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Burkina Faso have resisted central authority since colonial times. But previous rebellions have sought more local autonomy and integration of Tuareg fighters into the army rather than outright independence for Azawad.

Capturing the ambitious new mood of the insurgency and citing last year's creation of South Sudan, Africa's newest state, the pro-Tuareg website www.toumastpress.com declared in a December editorial that is was "now or never".

The rusty old weapons that let down Kaocene Ag Gedda, a hero in the anti-French colonial struggle in the early 20th century, had been replaced by the Grad rocket launchers and other heavy weapons now in desert camps, the editorial said.

The movement has a slick PR machine, with a regularly updated website and easily contactable Europe-based spokesmen.

Mali has rejected any talk of an independent state. The rebels, who represent some, but not all of the Tuareg, let alone other communities in the north, have said they will target towns, one by one, until they have created their northern homeland in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu.

Yet prospects of broader support for their cause appear dim. Libya's new rulers, busy with their own problems, are unlikely to mimic Gaddafi's penchant for meddling in Tuareg affairs.

Algeria, which retains a strong influence to its south, is looking to improve cooperation with Mali, especially in the fight against local al Qaeda cells. Its state oil company Sonatrach also has interests in Mali's section of the Taoudeni Basin, in the north, though exploration has not begun.

Algerian officials have confirmed they are hosting talks between Mali's government and some Tuareg leaders. But the MNLA has denied sending any representatives to the meetings and shown no sign of listening to international appeals for a ceasefire.

Niger's Tuareg, who have in the past sometimes linked up with those in Mali, appear unlikely to revolt. They are better represented in the central government and fewer Nigerien Tuareg returning from Libya were able to keep hold of their weapons.

"Ultimately, they are surrounded by countries who won't support any independence movement so the best they can hope for is greater autonomy and a decent pay package for the leaders," said one diplomat who is following the conflict closely.

DISTRACTS FROM ANTI-AL QAEDA FIGHT

Yet even if the rebellion is unlikely to succeed in creating a new Tuareg state, it is a direct challenge both to Mali and the international fight against al Qaeda cells and trafficking gangs that have made the desert north their stamping ground.

The mingling of Islamists in the multi-million dollar ransom economy fuelled by kidnapping Westerners and the trafficking of cocaine and other goods have forced the region onto the West's security agenda.

A second diplomat said that while Mali's military may be facing a more muscular rebellion than ever before, independence was an "unattainable goal" and the rebellion could be resolved through a political solution.

"The bigger existential threat to Mali is the threat of international drug trade and terrorism," the diplomat said.

Washington has tried to bolster Mali's army, providing $17 million in military aid over the last year to equip and train forces in everything from desert warfare to winning hearts and minds. European nations have offered their help too.

But many of these men and much of this equipment are now likely to be diverted to tackle the MNLA, not Islamists.

A Reuters reporter travelling on February 4 on the road south from Kidal saw convoys of Malian soldiers heading north to reinforce units there, many travelling in trucks Washington had provided last year for counter-terrorism operations.

Operation Flintlock, an annual U.S.-run counter-terrorism training operation in the Sahara, was due to take place in Mali next month but will have to be delayed due to the rebellion.

According to www.magharebia.com, a North African news website sponsored by the U.S. military, a small unit of Algerian trainers dispatched to Mali's north to train and equip local units has since been forced to leave due to the fighting.

"That is the sort of coordination and movement that is being diverted (by the rebellion)," the second diplomat said.

REBELLION, CRIME AND JIHADISM

For those who fear fragile governments in the region are losing control of their desert zones, the question is where the MNLA fits into the complex web of groups, including al Qaeda cells, international traffickers and local bandits, who have filled the void out of reach of the distant central government.

The Tuareg do not have any ideological links with al Qaeda's North African wing, AQIM. But family ties and sheer opportunism mean that clear distinctions are hard to come by in a zone where rebellion, crime and jihad regularly overlap.

Iyad Ag Ghali, a former rebel who served briefly as Mali's Consul General in Saudi Arabia before returning home to turn his hand at hostage-negotiations in the north, is a case in point.

Ag Ghali has since formed an Islamic movement yet diplomats say his only concrete link with al Qaeda is through a cousin who is a local commander. Diplomats and analysts say at least some of his men seem to have fought with the MNLA in recent fighting.

The rebels say they have recruited several dozen Tuareg gunmen who had previously been with AQIM.

Local alliances and loyalties often appear as shifting as the desert sands that blanket the hostile Sahara wastes.

"Today, no one really knows who is with whom," said Haidara, the parliamentary deputy from Timbuktu.

http://dailytrust.com.ng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=154540:boko-haram-nigeria-opens-defence-missions-in-mali-niger&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8
Written by Turaki A. Hassan Monday, 13 February 2012 05:00

The Federal Government has established two new defence intelligence missions in neighbouring Niger Republic and the Republic of Mali in order to check the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect, according to documents seen by Daily Trust.

Already, a budgetary proposal for the purchase of the missions’ offices, residential apartments and deployment of personnel has been forwarded to the National Assembly for approval by the Chief of Defence Intelligence Major General S. Y. Audu.


According to the documents available to Daily Trust, the Defence Attaché Offices (DAO) will be sited at Bamako and Niamey, the capitals of Mali and Niger respectively.

They are expected to “work closely in order to respond to global defence and security challenges and help curtail the nation’s security challenges.”

“The DOA was directed to establish the missions to check the activities of Al-Qaeda in the Magreb and the fall of the Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya”, among others.

At the moment, Nigeria has 20 defence missions abroad and has accreditation in 98 countries.

In December last year, the chairman House of Representatives Committee on Defence Rep. Bashir Adamu Kazaure (PDP, Jigawa) advocated for a holistic review of Nigeria’s defence missions abroad in order to address the current security challenges in the country.

He said “most of the challenges we have now are within the West coast and the African continent. There are so many defence missions in Europe and America and the Far East which are really not very important to what is happening here but our neighbor Niger Republic here is neglected. So we have to put a stop to that and see how we use intelligence missions to improve our internal security.”

bittyend:
You don't get it, do you?? Most times when CIA, MOSSAD and FBI do this overt adventures, they use the "boogie" men. Just as IBB was used during the IRAN CONTRA, and Nigeria became the best route for hard drugs. All the people you listed maybe involved, but they're not funding them directly - they do these things indirectly,

The questions you need to ask is that, why are these organizations funding BH located in the UK and Saudi Arabia

Who funds these organizations?