₦airaland Forum

It's massive than you think. The Senate building alone have over 100 offices. I was there and know what I saw.

More pictures

Here is the pictures of permanent headquarters of the National Open University of Nigeria. This is massive I tell you. It has everything you can think of, teaching hospital, massive library, ict center etc. When everything is finally done, how any higher institution would be able compete with open university is yet to be seen. It is located at Jabi, Abuja.

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Recall that, leaders of Congress of Noun students, the unofficial student association of the National Open University of Nigeria were expelled in November last year over their role in calling for the sack of the former Vice Chancellor, Prof Vincent Tenebe. The student leaders also submitted petition of endemic corruption taking place at the institution to the police and several other anti graft agencies. After their expulsion, the president, Abdulrazaq O Hamzat led others to challenge the unlawful expulsion at the federal high court, Lagos. The final judgement comes up on Monday, 13th June, 2016.

TIPS TO EFFECTIVELY RECITE QURAN DURING THIS MONTH RAMADAN. Brothers and sisters, we are in the Holy month of Ramadan, the month of special forgiveness and blessings. In this month of mercy , the Holy Quran was revealed to us, through the noble Prophet (S. A. W). As you all know, during this month of fasting , we are enjoyed to read Quran as much as we can, not only to improve our understanding of messages of Allah, but to also enable us have abundant reward from the almighty. According to some scholars, each ayah we pronounce in the Quran earn us ten fold of its reward. In view of this, I want to give you some tips on how to make reading Quran easy through out this period. From my experience, reading Quran can be a very huge task, especially to people, who are not used to reading it regularly before now. By mere looking at the bulky book, one may loss interest in reading, but I must confess, reading the Holy Quran can be as easy as anything. Here is my little tip, which you can use to train yourself to finish reciting the Quran, at least once during this fasting period. As you all know, we have between 29 to 30 days to observe Ramadan. And again, the full Quran you are to read contains 604 pages. Since each page have front and back, let's count front and back as one page. By this, the Quran has just 302 pages. If you divide 302 pages by 30 days of Ramadan, you would be left with 10 pages each day. This means that, if you can read just 10 pages of Quran each day for 30 days, you would be able to finish the whole Quran in 30 days. Furthermore, I try to quantify the number of hours you need to spare each day to read 10 pages of Quran. Yesterday, I read about 40 pages in 4 hours. This means that,you can read 10 pages in just 1 hour. Dear friends, you would agree with me that, it is not such a difficult task to spare just 1 hour each day to read the Quran during this month of blessing. I know you can do it. Please do. Let's do it together and Allah would reward us all. Additionally, almighty Allah had said, we should be reading Quran constantly, so as to improve our understanding of its message. The more you read the Quran, the more understanding you have of its message. So , we can't just be reading Quran for reading sake, we must understand its message, mediate over it and apply it's teachings in our daily lives. Brothers and sisters, I would like to equally urge us to spare another one hour to read the tafseer of the Quran. Tafseer is the translation and explanation of the Quran. This would not only help us understand the Quran better, it would take us straight into another world of wisdom, spirituality and understanding of Allah and the world we live in. Let's all try our best in this special month to seek Allah's forgiveness and blessings. May we be guided, protected and rewarded. Jazakumullahu Khair.

Of course

The price of peace
By Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
Few months ago, the International Center for Transitional Justice made a publication titled peace versus justice: A false dilemma in which it noted that, for a long time, making compromises on justice with powerful perpetrators of mass atrocities has been an integral part of peace negotiations in ending conflicts. The immediate concern of ending the violence often resulted in amnesties for war crimes and crimes against humanity, sometimes even presenting the calls for justice as obstacles to peace.
It noted however that in recent years, there has been marked shift away from the practice of providing immunity from prosecution to those responsible for mass atrocity. This has parallel a growing understanding that the two goals of peace and justice, rather than being exclusive, are mutually reinforcing. Peace, when understood as enduring and long- term peace, goes beyond the immediate goal of ending a conflict and relies on justice and accountability to ensure sustainability. Where mass crimes are not addressed, when the root causes of conflict are not sought out and removed, when victims calls for justice are not heard, the danger of violence recurring remain high.
Few weeks ago, while on social media encouraging friends to join our new peace advocacy campaign tagged, ‘’ promoting peace through social media’’, a maiden project by our new Ngo’ Foundation For Peace. A respected senior friend, Barrister Samuel Opeyemi made some remarks on the promotional post which later led to an elaborate interaction between me and the respected human rights lawyer.
According to him, the name of our new organization ‘’Foundation For Peace’’ didn’t appeal to him, instead, he wrote, ‘’Maybe foundation for justice would have interest me’’. He ended the first comment by saying, ‘’there can be no peace, where justice is denied’’.
From that point onward, our interaction became a little bit more elaborate.
As much as I believe justice cannot be made a secondary priority if lasting peace is to be achieved, i pointed out that, ‘’there can’t be justice, unless there is peace, because even justice need a peaceful atmosphere to take its due course.
Not satisfied with my response to his comment, the human rights lawyer responded with another critical poser in which he asked a very important question. He said, ‘’where did you see peace reign in the midst of Injustice except the peace of the graveyard?
My response to his question followed similar pattern as I wrote, ‘’where have you also seen justice done in the midst of violent conflict or war? I maintained that, the first step is temporal peace, and then, justice should follow for durable and sustainable peace.
Again, not convinced or comfortable with my response, the respected barrister countered once again that, ‘’we are not at war and if there is bickering as we have in Nigeria now; it was caused by injustice perpetrated by others. He maintained that, except there is redress, no peace can be achieved.
While I agree with him completely that the bickering in the country is caused by injustice and that there must be redress for us to achieve lasting peace, I equally maintained that, we are already in the state of war and violence. From war against boko haram, to war against kidnapping, herdsmen, militancy etc, all these are issues that cannot be adequately addressed unless there is an atmosphere of peace. I concluded that, justice cannot be done, in midst of all these conflicts and violent confrontations.
It is important to note that, to address any real or perceived grievances and bring under control, any kind of war or violent conflict, there is need to facilitate or give room for temporary peace, so as to ultimately bring about true justice. There must be peace, whether durable or temporary, for justice to be done. For without peace, even those who seek to do justice may become victim of violence.
After our engagement on the social media, I reflected over our interaction which circled around peace and justice, and I asked myself once again, is it peace or justice that we need to live a fulfilled life as a community of people?
It occurred to me that, finding an appropriate answer to the question seems to be an uneasy task because, for every resolution one arrived at, there is something vital still missing. It was this observation that me concludes that, peace and justice are two sides of the same coin, and one cannot be relegated for the other as both are mutually complimentary. Where durable peace is enjoyed, justice made it possible and wherever justice prevails, that's where peace resides.
I must however note that, peace attain more importance in the sense that, a peaceful atmosphere is needed for justice to take effect. Violence never solves a problem, it compound the problems and breed more violence. This universal truth was embraced by all civil right leaders in world history and it ultimately accounted for their success in social crusade. Those who did the contrary were eventually consumed by the violence they perpetrated.
Let us consider the example of Niger Delta militancy in Nigeria. In 2010, former president Umaru Musa Yaradua, while searching for peace in the Niger Delta region granted amnesty to militants involved in all sorts of criminality without holding them accountable for their crimes. Ensuring justice at that time was considered an obstacle to peace, forgetting that without justice, peace cannot be sustained. The region got 13% derivatives, a specialized Niger delta development commission to address development in the region, amnesty program which sent the militants to all sorts of training abroad and their States earn more than every other states, despite their small sizes. Yet , the militants are back in their usual acts of criminality, but whether the government would pursue peace or justice this time remain to be seen. My view however is that, government must use justice as its guiding principle towards peace. For no reason should government grant amnesty for deliberate criminality in the name of peace, as such peace can only leads to more criminality. Whenever any group engage in acts of criminality, I hear this statement over and over again from people who said they wish the country well. They say government should dialogue with cruel insurgents, dialogue with destructive militants, dialogue with inciting ipob, dialogue with heartless treasury looters, but nobody is talking about dialogue with the peace loving Nigerians and men of integrity. If those who are destroying the country continue to get required attention over those who are working to build peacefully, the country would most likely not head to the right direction. This is so because, for every special attention accorded to criminal elements in the society, more than 10 of such elements would emerge. Ugoji Egbujo, a public analyst had stated that, peace makers often have heavy moral burdens imposed on them by the complexity of the endeavor. Because, many times, peacemaking involves some compromise with justice, fairness and other lofty values. And justice trampled or shortchanged, leaves the conscience a bit sore. But without peace, does anything else really worth it? We must ask, can there be true, sustainable peace without justice?
Social contract theory would support the view that justice serves to preserve and promote societal peace. Justice and peace are therefore not mutually exclusive entities. However, social situations sometimes demand that justice in legality be sacrificed to further peace.
This led to the questioned that, Is it just to allow a few corrupt people go unpunished in exchange for tranquility for millions of Nigerians? Is it just to grant Boko haram, mass murderers’ amnesty and stop the killing of thousands of innocent people, if the government cannot contain boko haram immediately? Is it just to enter into discussion with militant’s committing treasonable offenses through act of economic sabotage? And should we accept the sort of peace purchased at such ransom? Ugoji concluded by asking that, what precedent would we set, if leaders must retire to peace and comfort with their loots while poor Nigerians die from easily curable and preventable diseases? Let me also add that, what kind of peace can be achieved by granting militants amnesty, when they can simply wake up tomorrow and pick up arms again?
It is clear here that these militants are not in anyway, interested in peace, justice or development to the Niger Delta region, all they wanted is access to state resources for personal benefits. Many of those who benefitted from previous amnesty programs didn't invest in the region, they went outside the country. One of them even boasted of owning a University in Benin Republic. So, should the entire resources of the region be handed over to these elements, they would not only complicate the already worse situation of the people, they people would have no hope whatsoever in a better future. And to make matter worse, all the sympathy they get now would no longer be there. Let it be known that, no matter what is done to develop the Niger Delta region, provided it would not place state resources directly in the hands of these militants and their sponsors, whatever is done won’t be enough to make them renounce militancy. Government must therefore deal with these militants using justice as its guiding principle to achieve peace.
Abdulrazaq O Hamzat is a peace Professional and Conflict Transformation Expert. He is also the President, Foundation for Peace Professionals. He writes from Abuja and can be reached on discus4now@gmail.com.

Nigeria is currently in a state of confusion. Things are extremely difficult. Our economy is in recession and as a matter of fact, government doesn’t seem to understand the way out. While much of these problems are as a result of bad decisions by the immediate past administration, we can't also completely exonerate the present administration.
More importantly, communication between government and citizens is practically nonexistent.
THE ECONOMIC WOES
Since January this year, everything has not been going on well. Prices of all commodities continue to rise, in addition to fuel scarcity that has almost become a permanent feature of our experience as a nation.
While dollar official exchange rate still remains N198 to a dollar, the black market rate as at April went as high as N320. Due to this high exchange rate, our economy, which is largely dependent on imported goods, has been severely affected.
Few weeks ago, government increased the official fuel price from N87 to N145, with different government officials giving contradictory reasons for the exercise. This was in addition to the 40% increment in electricity tariff, which had been effected few months earlier. And despite the electricity tariff increment, power supply had gone down significantly with no concrete explanation from government. This led to the NLC nationwide strike which lasted for 3 days before its suspension.
As regards the hike in fuel price, government said it’s inevitable due to lack of forex. They also claimed subsidy on petrol is not sustainable and therefore, it has to be removed at all cost if the fuel scarcity issue would be resolved. In addition to this, government declared that all oil marketers are to source their forex through black market, leaving the subsequent fuel prices to market forces. The implication of this policy is that, government is endorsing black market activities and shifting the burden on the people rather than fix the problems in the sector.
After the tactical official endorsement of black market activities, oil marketers not only flooded the black market in search of forex, thereby causing massive scarcity, dollar exchange rate also rises from N320 to N360 within 5 days.
As a result of the above, prices of every commodity have continued to rise and there seems to be no sign of it slowing down any time soon. Commodities that is sold for a certain amount before is now double that price. One of such commodity is Rice, which in January this year was selling for N9000. As at today, a bag of rice goes for N18000. Also, small Tiger generator which is being sold for N9000 is now N17, 000.
Furthermore, while it is true that the fuel scarcity slightly went down after price increment, there is no guarantee that it won’t return. Just last week, oil marketers meet with the minister of finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, intimating her of their inability to source for forex for fuel import.
The oil marketers pointedly told the minister that the naira payment made to them by government is lying idle in their bank accounts and the minister promised to look into their matter. What this translates to is that, the premise on which government increased fuel price is self defeating in the sense that, government would still have to provide Forex for the oil marketers. Should government not source for forex, fuel scarcity shall return in full force despite the increased pricing.
Another point of note is this, while government said it is not providing forex for certain products it banned for importation, it is providing forex for other products not on its banned list and companies such as Dangote group of companies and others are beneficiaries. As a result of this, beneficiaries of government forex would buy at official rate of N198/$1, while those sourcing from black market would buy at whatever rate they get in the black market. Here, another avenue for corruption is opened.
It should be noted that, rather than utilize forex for the purpose it was released, some beneficiaries of government forex may choose to divert it to black market for maximum profits. Some CBN officials might also partner with their business colleagues in the black market to explore this avenue for personal interest.
For example, if Dangote should get N1billion dollars forex for import, from which he would make 30% profit. He could simply divert the forex to black market and make more profits without any effort. This could translate into under importing other products, causing scarcity and thereby leading to higher inflation.
The above explanation depicts current economic realities in Nigeria and you may wish to know citizens reaction to the above.
CITIZENS REACTION
From my general study of public reactions on both traditional and social media, more and more people are coming out to speak against government activities. However, those speaking publicly against government still ranked below 35%. This explains why NLC nationwide strike action didn’t enjoy popular support. The vast majority of people, who publicly expressed themselves still, leaned towards the government.
On the contrary, when we look beyond the media expression, some new realities emerged. Contrary to the public show of support to government by the majority, my investigation revealed that, more than 65% Nigerians are seriously against the president. The loss of confidence came, as a result of numerous inconsistencies in government actions. From outright denial of several campaign promises, to failure of Mr. President to assert himself and provide definite leadership for the country, to reverting to the same policy massively condemned by citizens under previous administration etc.
In my purposeful private engagement with some pro government advocates, more than 30% of them are expressing strong doubt about the capability of the president. Privately, they lament, express shock, display discontent and complain bitterly about the direction this administration is leading the nation. Majority of them express outright loss of hope in the change mantra, but couldn’t publicly express such feelings.
Further investigation indicates that, many reasons are responsible for their inability to publicly express this feeling.
The wailing wailers: while it is not disputable that former President was an unrivaled disaster, It was gathered that, supporters of PDP and former president Goodluck Jonathan whom have been labeled as wailing wailers, often cash on legitimate complains about this administration to denigrate others who supported the change administration. As a result of this, many who campaigned against the former president find it difficult to publicly express their true frustration against this government to prevent the wailing wailers from mocking them and finding excuses to disregard the damage done to the nation by the former president.
Hope of Government Patronage: Vast majority of people are still expecting to benefit from the social welfare policy of government in one way or the other. Some are hoping for jobs, contracts, empowerment loan etc as contained in the budget. It is believed that, these opportunities can’t be tapped by those known to be publicly against the government, i.e if the policies are ever properly implemented. Since they all need someone in government to help in one way or the other, they don’t want to be seen publicly talking against the same government.
Solidarity until next election: Irrespective of how bad the government is performing, some people believe they must still stick with the government since there is no other option for now. According to them, irrespective of how we feel, the government would still spend 3 more years. So, we would just continue to publicly express support, hoping that somehow, the government would get it right, even if they feel things are not going on well at the moment.
Fear of contradiction: Again, vast majority of people do not want to be seen publicly speaking against the same government they brought into power one year after. While they believe the government is not getting it right as expected, they believe the opposition might cash in on their patriotic expression for selfish reasons should they be seen complaining. Here, they don’t want to be regarded as part of the wailing wailers.

Finally, one fact that has stood out very clearly is that, the discussion on social media is gradually changing from that of outright believe in the administration to skepticism. More people are now talking about the unsuitability of integrity without competence in governance in reference to the President’s perceived integrity with perceived lack of competence. Some of the most ardent supporters of the president are now coming out to talk about the quality that we should be looking out for in 2019, impressing on the need to find a candidate that would merge integrity with competence as it is becoming more obvious that integrity alone is not enough.

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Don't get you

Hum

President Buhari, You Have The Moral Obligation To Resign Now! By Elias Ozikpu
PIC.6. PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ACKNOWLEDGING CHEERS DURING HIS INAUGURATION IN ABUJA ON FTIDAY(29/5/15). 2819/29/5/2015/CH/NAN
PIC.6. PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ACKNOWLEDGING CHEERS DURING HIS INAUGURATION IN ABUJA ON FTIDAY(29/5/15).
2819/29/5/2015/CH/NAN
After sixteen years of misrule, widespread corruption, oppression and unalloyed despotism overseen by the administrations of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), oppressed Nigerians needed a realistic change in government, preferably by a leader with unquestionable integrity to be at the helm of the nation.
Former military head, Muhammadu Buhari, after three unsuccessful attempts (2003, 2007 and 2011) to re-occupy the nation’s State House from which he was prematurely jettisoned in 1985 by one vicious dictator, became the ideal leader to lead the people after being viewed as having ‘unsullied integrity’. It was like the case of the Biblical Moses who had to rescue the people of Israel from the bondage of slavery to which they had been subjected in Pharoah’s Egypt for several years.
One year later, after cruising to electoral victory on the vociferous promise of “change”, President Buhari has decided to adopt an anti-people policy by criminally removing subsidy on petroleum products (or is it “deregulation” they call it?), an act which stands at variance with his electoral promises. The Buhari-led government is executing this dastardly act without considering the harsh economic conditions surrounding the people. The move is not just bad, it is incurably demonic.
Without mincing words, I must say that Buhari’s recent hike in petroleum products is callous, onerous, evil, inconsiderate, mindless, revolting, anti-people, indefensible, inhospitable, solipsistic, etc. The hike has exposed the guile in this administration. The President CANNOT claim to be a man of unimpeachable rectitude if he is unable to stick to his promises. That is not integrity. That is deception, and the President can proffer no excuses.
Professor Chinua Achebe, in one of his critical essays about Nigeria some thirty three years ago, even when this writer hadn’t physically been in existence, aptly said:
“As we have sunk more and more deeply into the quagmire we have been ‘blessed’ with a succession of leaders who are said to possess impeccable integrity but unfortunately are surrounded by sharks and crooks. I do confess to some personal difficulty in even beginning to visualise genuine integrity in that kind of fix; for it has always seemed to me that THE TEST OF INTEGRITY IS ITS BLUNT REFUSAL TO BE COMPROMISED.”
It goes without saying, therefore, that President Buhari’s decision to dance to the drumbeats of the APC principalities, some whom, like Mr Bola Tinubu, opposed the same move in January of 2012, raises tall questions on the integrity of Buhari.
On March 3, 2015 whilst the nation was overtaken by the torrent deceptions of electoral campaigns, President Buhari remarked:
“But over the last several years our refineries have declined, and we are at the mercy of imports. We must reject a system that has turned one of world’s largest crude exporters into an importer of petrol. Things must change.”
It is now very herculean to decipher the kind of “change” that the President was referring to seeing that the nation’s refineries, if they ever exist, have only been functioning on the pages of newspapers. One year into his administration, our refineries have remained incapacitated, with no realistic plan of resuscitating them. Wherein lies integrity in all of this?
President Buhari’s failure to stabilise the Nigerian economy and then proceed, as if ignorant of the alarming conditions under his own nose, to compound the people’s escalated woes by removing subsidy on petroleum products, a policy already rejected by Nigerians in what was indisputably the biggest uprising the country has ever experienced, is a violent betrayal of trust and confidence. It should not be overlooked.
The Buhari administration, against the wish of the people it claims to ‘serve’, indiscriminately raised electricity tarriffs at a time when the country has remained in total blackout and the people still produce their own electricity. Is the President not aware of this? This is not justice. It is injustice, a state-sponsored robbery against the citizens.
When Jonathan’s terrible administration took this nauseous path of subsidy removal, the Labour Bodies were quick to mobilise and even chanted war songs at some point. But today, I am yet to see any meaningful move from these people, clearly indicating that they have agreed with the oppressors on how to push the masses further down the gutters, knowing that Nigerians have always been too docile to initiate any meaningful action on their own. A people that is so tractable cannot initiate a revolutionary movement even when it becomes their last resort to guarantee survival.
If indeed the 2012 movement, which I was part of, was nationalistic, then the people must always resort to same approach, irrespective of who the President may be. That is my own orientation and that is what true patriotism requires. The silence surrounding the recent hike in the price petrol is disturbing.
In conclusion, President Buhari has the moral obligation to resign this minute if he wishes to retain his tag of integrity. For integrity is not measured by merely declaiming it, it is seen through the actions and conducts of a person.
Elias Ozikpu is a creative writer and social commentator who believes strongly in truth and justice.
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President Buhari, You Have The Moral Obligation To Resign Now! http://mrrights.com.ng/?p=780

Fear of Donald Trump consumes Hilary Clinton.
Last Friday, I was reading about the upcoming U.S presidential election and somehow, i felt the need to go through social media accounts of major U.S presidential candidates of both Democrat and Republican. Some of them include Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, Senator Sanders, Ted Cruz and others.
Having identified Trump and Clinton as the most likely candidates that would represent their respective parties, I thought of spending more time in going through their posts and policies. It was in the cause of doing this that I observed something very strange.
While on the facebook page of Hilary Clinton and going through her postings, I observed something strange. There was no emphasis on any policy action to be embarked upon or issues affecting the American people. There was also not much discussion about the people or their aspirations. It seems this U.S presidential election is not going to be about issues.
First, I noticed that, despite being on the page of Hilary Clinton, a front line Democrat nominee, I didn’t see much to read about her campaign or agenda, instead, all i saw was about Donald Trump. It got to a time that I decided to study the last 10 posts made by Hilary.
Out of the Ten (10) last posts made by Hilary Clinton, 9 of them were about Donald Trump. I went further to check the last 20 posts, but 15 out of 20 last posts is about the same individual. It occurred to me that, the fear of Trump has consumed Hilary to an extent that, she is gradually running out of ideas in her campaign other than focusing on her opponent.
What many observers are asking now is that, if Clinton would spend all her time talking about Trump, what time would be left in discussing issues affecting the American People and how to resolve them?
Similarly, when I went to the facebook page of Donald Trump, he slightly followed the same pattern, though with less concentration.
For Trump, out of the 10 last post made, 5 is about Hilary Clinton. He used other posts to talk about himself and his campaign.
It is important to note that, this election should not about any individual candidates, but about the American people. A situation where the leading candidates of both Democrat and republican are focused on individuals rather than the people is not only insulting; it shows the quality of those aspiring to lead America. No wonder some people are already discussing the possibility or finding a third alternative.
From Hilary Clinton’s facebook wall: Check it out
1.Donald J Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. Chip in now if you agree we can’t let him become President- Hilary
2.We need to invest in Appalachia’s families. Too many workers with black lung disease have been denied the health care they need. Too many young people who go away to college don’t come back, because they don’t see a way to make a living.- Hilary
3.I don’t think we can take a risk on a loose cannon like Donald J Trump running our country.- Hilary
4.If you’re a smart, hardworking, dedicated Democrat who wants to elect Hilary Clinton (and keep Donald J Trump out of the white house), we’ve got a job you’ll be interested in.
5.Trump podria ser tu proximo Comandante del Ejercito. Como es su vision sobre la politica exterior irresponsible.
6.The Republican Party is now the party of Trump. Here is what it stands for.
7.Join a team of the smartest engineers, product managers, researchers, designers and data scientists in the business and help keep Donald Trump out of the White House at the same time. Hilary for Tech is hiring.
8.Love trumps hate. This election is a choice between different candidates and different parties, but it’s also a choice about something more fundamental.
9.President Trump is a dangerous proposition. Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio agree.
10.Donald Trump: Everything I say, I am going to do folks. Here’s what the presumptive republican nominee would do as president.
http://mrrights.com.ng/?p=771

Hum

HERDSMEN OR TERRORISTS? Human life is so precious, it must never be taken at will. This explains why right to life is the first universal human rights. Even when life is taken as punishment for crime by legitimate government establishments, it is not appropriate that we celebrate such incident. Instead of celebrating, we should feel bad that a human life is lost. I have the believe that such thinking motivate amnesty international into championing global campaign against death sentence as we have seen in recent time. Although, I subscribe to the reasoning of those who argued that, if you deny other people their own lives, you should not be allowed to keep yours, notwithstanding, I often feel grieve whenever human live is being taken no matter the crime of such culprit. But in this case, lives being taken are that of innocent people, what a wicked world. In line with this thought, I condemn in totality, all mindless murder of innocent people by murderous terrorists masquerading as herdsmen across the country. We all must speak up with one voice, not only to condemn this inhumanity, but to ensure government is put on its toes to take appropriate steps to prevent it's reoccurence and bring those responsible to justice. Having said that, I wish to call our attention to something very important. When Boko Haram gained prominence and was killing people mindlessly with utmost cruelty during the last administration, some people said it was them, killing themselves. We said it was terrorist killing innocent people,but they said no, it was them against them. It is none of their business they said. When we called on government to take action before things fall apart, they said we should tell northern elders to call their sons to order and not bother the President. We cried for human lives, we cried for the children and women going through unimaginable sufferings, we cried for the older people and soldiers fighting without appropriate arms, but our brothers and sisters seems not to be bothered about our tears. When the terrorist group increased in fearlessness, capturing barracks and towns, we said it's time for government to give it the required attention and stop the mindless killing of innocent people, but they said no, it was a plan of the political enemies to discredit the administration. Let them continue to kill themselves they concluded, though they never stepped out of their homes or comfort zones to know what is really happening in the war front. We cried out loud, stop the killings of innocent people, stop the terrorists,but our fellow countrymen laughed from afar, it's the north killing themselves. When over 200 Chibok girls were kidnapped under a state of emergency in which the power of the governor is practically stripped off, the tears of those parents, whose children were kidnapped didn't move them a bit. We said bring back our girls, they said don't disturb the President, ask the governor. We passionately appealed to our brothers and sisters to join us with one voice to call a spade what it is so we can collectively work against the evil amongst us, but they said no, it is your problem, face it alone. We said an injustice to one is an injustice to all, they converge in their homes, offices, streets and beer parlors, mocking our genuine struggle to defend victims of human inhumanity. This is not how to be human. If had collectively confronted our joint enemy, we had all shown concern,if we had all spoken with one voice,if had not politicize human sufferings, maybe today things would not be the way it is. While the current government is currently dealing with the terrorist group, something else is brewing underground. Terrorists masquerading as herdsmen are killing innocent people, some people call them fulani. The same sets of people who prevented us from collectively fighting Boko Haram as one nation by describing it as a northern affair are gradually succeeding in painting this current terrorism as ethnic agenda. We must not allow them succeed. This is their way of life, creating division for political benefits. We must not be divided once again. Terrorist is terrorist, terrorism is terrorism, we must collectively confront the current situation with all sincerity. If you join the negative propaganda, you are part of the terrorists. If you join in propagating falsehood and conspiracy theories, you are part of the terrorists. If you keep silent over this killings and join in defending or promoting the ethnic narrative, you are not different from the terrorists. It's either you are with humanity or the terrorists.

Otukpo, why are you not protesting against darkness

DON'T MISCOMMUNUCATE THE MESSAGE OF OCCUPYNASS, WE ARE TOO UNITED TO BE DIVIDED. One question for the public and all media organization reporting our activities. Take a very careful look at all occupy Nass pictures, banners and posters, look at them very well, show us one banner or statement by any of our members in which the name of any senator or lawmaker was mentioned in the occupy Nass protest? This is a challenge. I am telling you, there was none, there is none and there won't be any. We at the occupy Nass Movement didn't mention the name of any individual, we are bigger than any individual senator, we can't be wasting our time on just one person. This is something bigger, much more bigger than you expected. We don’t have problem with any individual lawmaker, we are only here to occupy Nass to reclaim our dear nation from our servants who had or trying to turn themselves into our masters. They can never be our masters, we are there employer, not the other way round. Our protest is against the entire National Assembly, it is against all senators and house of Representatives members, it is against fraudulent constituency projects, criminal law amendments for selfish reasons, over bloated allowances and lawlessness in the polity. Look at it from this angle. National Assembly, I mean, 469 law makers consume N120 billion every year. Tell us, what do the National Assembly give us back in return in terms of service? Have they ever done any effective oversight on the activities of the executives? No. Do they make any law for the benefits of the common people? No. N120 billion yearly investment without any meaningful results other than fraudulent law amendments? Common, has the National Assembly ever given account of how these huge amount of money is spent? No. Do they have account book, no, do they conduct any audit, no. How long would we continue to condone this fraud? It must stop now. Why is National Assembly not part of the Treasury Single Account (TSA)? It is to evade transparency and accountability. Why do they purchase foreign vehicle when we have local production? It is to evade transparency. Vehicles of N17million in normal market is bought in large quantity at the rate of N37 million. What fraudulent institution. This National Assembly must key into the Treasury Single Account (TSA). We want to see the account and expenditures , we must know how every kobo is spent. Don't get it twisted, Occupy Nass is not about any individual,it is about the institution as a whole. Let me conclude by asking you ladies and gentlemen, which arm of government can check the National Assembly? None. Legislature can impeach the executive President, Judiciary is only to adjudicate. It is only we the Nigerian people that has power to check and recall the members of the National Assembly. The revolution has begun. Occupy Nass

Did Occupy Nass attack AIT?
By Abdulrazaq O Hamzat

This afternoon while listening to the news, it was reported on Ray Power Fm that the Occupy Nass protesters attacked AIT crew members which came to cover the Occupy Nass protest, but this far from the truth. It therefore important that I set the record straight.

As you must have heard on the news, Occupy Nass protest begun today in Abuja. It was a protest that begun on the social media and before you know what is happening, a lot of us came together to take action against the impunity taking place at the National Assembly. We meet, agreed and tasked each other, so as to provide basic materials needed for a peaceful protest and gbam, here we are at the National Assembly demanding our law makers to put Nigeria first.
Actually, we are going to be here for many days, so feel free to join us when you are chanced within the week. It is going to be a long protest to reclaim Nigeria.
As I was saying, we first converged at
http://mrrights.com.ng/?p=759

Lol

The Foundation For Peace Professionals, a foremost Non-Governmental Organization for professional peace advocates, mediators and Conflict Resolution Practitioners has urged the Switzerland mission in Nigeria, Mr Eric Mayooraz to reach out to appropriate agencies in their home country to investigate and recover stolen property of a Nigeria in Zurich, Switzerland.

This was contained in a letter cited by Mr rights and dated 14 April, 2016 addressed to the Switzerland ambassador.
According to the NGO, ‘’this letter is to bring your attention to the ugly incident that took place at Zurich train station, opposite Zurich International Airport on the 13th March, 2016 between 4 to 5pm’’.

It explained that, the property of a reputable Nigerian citizen, Mr Kamaldeen Issa was stolen at the Zurich train station opposite Zurich International Airport on the said date.

The letter reads, ‘’While waiting for the train to arrive, Mr. Issa dropped his two traveling bags on the ground and hanged the small HP bag on the bag handle.

‘’Minutes later, he received a call, which made him step little bit away from his bags, but after dropping the call, he realized the small bag which contain cash, documents and other materials such as flash drive, eye glass etc had been stolen. All efforts to trace the stolen bag proved abortive despite informing the train officials. He had to leave when it was dark.’’ It said.

The letter also quoted Mr Issa to have said, ‘’I went back to inquire properly on the 3rd day because I knew there were surveillance camera’s everywhere that would capture the whole scene. I went to the security section at the railway, but I was directed to lodge my complaint at lost and found section at the airport. When I got to lost and found, they said they didn’t see any bag. I asked what could be done about the matter because the documents inside are very vital, including those on the flash drive, but they said finding out through the surveillance cameras would take a very long process. It could take days or weeks, but I could not wait that long in Switzerland, Mr issa was quoted to have said’’.

Asked about what he has inside the bag, Mr issa reportedly said, ’’I have many things in the bag. Cash, my eye glass, flash drive and other vital documents. There is N250, 000 cash and some other currencies inside’’.
The foundation therefore urges the ambassador to use his good office to reach out to the appropriate department in Switzerland to properly investigate the matter and retrieve the property of this law abiding citizen if possible.

NGO urges Switzerland mission in Nigeria to recover stolen property
http://mrrights.com.ng/?p=742

Once and for all, let me address the issue of political interest in the prosecution of Bukola Saraki’s alleged persecution. I would put it in form of questions and answers.
Enjoy.
Question: Some people are saying Bukola Saraki is being persecuted, is that true?
Answer: That is not true. Saraki is not being persecuted; he is being prosecuted for allegedly stealing Kwara state resources and declaring false assets, which amount to grave offenses in the laws of this country. Persecution as we all know only applies to innocent people. However, Saraki has been given more than enough chance to prove his innocence, but instead of doing so with sincerity, he wants to evade justice by hiding under politics as he has always done, but unfortunately, this is no longer possible in today’s Nigeria.

Question: But why is he being prosecuted?
Answer: He his being prosecuted because he is alleged to have stolen public resources to acquire properties he didn’t declare. He is also alleged to have stolen state resources to pay personal loan running into billions and to make matters worse, he also laundered parts of these resources abroad, thereby depriving our country’s economy. These are grave offenses against the people of this nation.

Question: Is Saraki the only public official to ever stole public resources and made false assets declaration? Why is he the only one being prosecuted at this time?
Answer: Saraki might not be the only one who has ever stolen public resources and made false assets declaration, but as at today, he is the only one government have enough evidences against. Government believes those evidences are too real and convincing beyond any reasonable doubt and he must be made to answer questions about them. If you also have evidences of the crimes of other public officials, you can help govt get those evidences for verification. Be rest assured that, under this administration, if indeed there is genuine evidence against anyone, i believe they shall surely be prosecuted in due time. Just like a thief, caught in the act of his theft. While many thieves might have been stealing in the past, this one that was caught in the act must not be allowed to go Scot free. Abi, would you allow the thief you caught in your house escape because he is not the only one involved? Certainly not, he must be made to face the music and when others are caught too, they should face similar consequences.

Question: Is this not political persecution? Is Saraki not being persecuted because of the senate presidency?
Answer: No, I don’t think so. This is not political persecution. It has nothing to do with the senate presidency. This is purely a legal matter in which Saraki has the chance to prove his innocence if he is indeed innocent. CCT has nothing to do with the senate. No senator is member of CCT. However, let me add that, If Saraki stole money via politics, i believe there is nothing wrong if he his being punished via the same politics. Without politics, he would not have been able to steal Kwara resources and make false asset declaration. In essence, if through politics is where he stole kwara resources, there is nothing wrong if he is being punished through the same politics. If politics is the route of the theft, assuming without conceding that he is being prosecuted via the same channel, it would be very much justified. Jale lati ara politics, se ewun lati ara politics, isn’t that fair enough?

Question: Since you said others might have committed the same crime, why are they not being prosecuted at the same time with Saraki?
Answer: We don’t know if others commit the same crime, but assuming they did, i beleive they shall all be prosecuted in due time. One thing you must understand is that, everybody stole at different time. They didn’t steal together. So, If they didn’t steal at the same time, how can you expect govt to prosecute them at the same time? Stealing took place one after the other. Prosecution must also take place one after the other. Today, it is the turn of Saraki to be prosecuted, tomorrow, it shall be the turn of others. But one thing is certain as we have seen under this government, no criminal would go unpunished.

Question: Saraki left office as Governor several years ago, why is he being prosecuted now after all this years?
Answer: Because he had immunity as governor between 2003-2011. He cannot be prosecuted. The proper investigation commenced after he left office in 2011 and this is why EFCC invited him severally during the tenure of former president Goodluck Jonathan between 2012-2014. After EFCC saw that the matter fall more within the jurisdiction of CCT, they transferred the case to CCT. CCT then did its own investigation between 2014-2015 before finally deciding to prosecute him. If you recall, Tinubu was prosecuted in 2011. He came to office in 1999 and left in 2007. Why was he prosecuted in 2011? Because he cant be prosecuted when he had immunity. Please know that, because you stole many years ago without being caught doesn’t mean you have escaped. The law will catch up with you any day, any time. As soon as govt have evidences against you, they can prosecute you even after 20 years of your crime. So, it is very proper to prosecute anyone, anytime there is evidence.

Abdulrazaq O Hamzat is the founder of Kwara Must Change

Questions and answers about Bukola Saraki’s alleged persecution by Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
http://mrrights.com.ng/?p=740

Mr. Rights



Home - News - Saraki mobilize Nans to protest and counter call for his resignation


Senate President, Dr Bukola saraki
Senate President, Dr Bukola saraki
Saraki mobilize Nans to protest and counter call for his resignation
Mr Rights have uncovered a secret plot by the embattled Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki to mobilized the National Association of Nigerian Students to staged protest in Abuja in support of the Senate President and to counter the increasing call for his resignation. Saraki is currently being prosecuted by the Code Of Conduct Tribunal in a 13 count charges bothering on false asset declaration. He was also named in the Panama papers release of global money laundering to tax heaven. According to the source who confided in Mr Rights,he stated that an aide to Senator Bukola Saraki, Alh Mashood Mustapha called a number, he assumed to be that of Nans president,Tijani Usman this morning. But unknown to him, the number he called belong to someone else. The number actually belong to a former aspiring nans president who happens to be an anti corruption activist. In the conversation, Mashood Mustapha simple gave directive to the assumed nans president, of how nans should mobilize some students to protest in Abuja against the continuous trial of Saraki and the call for his resignation. However, before he continued,the respected anti corruption activist informed the Saraki aide that he his not nans president and that he supports the trial and call for the resignation of Saraki. Mashood Mustapha ended the call with anger and annoyance, adding that by now, he must have reached the Nans president to arrange for the protest. The source said.

@bukolasaraki mobilize Nans to protest and counter call for his resignation. http://mrrights.com.ng/?p=720

Hum

: oko