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 Crime › BREAKING: Gunmen Attack Abuja Community, ‘abduct Residents’ by Nik77(op): 12:03pm On Sep 10, 2020 |
ByNasir Ayitogo September 10, 2020 Gunmen raided Tunga Maji, a suburb of Abuja, early Thursday, abducting an unspecified number of residents, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt. One resident said at least 20 people were kidnapped after prolonged shooting in the community that lies near Zuba. This figure could not be immediately confirmed. The police spokesperson for the federal capital territory, Anjugur Manzah, told PREMIUM TIMES he was working on a statement on the incident. He did not confirm the number of those kidnapped, or whether there were casualties. A resident of the area who would not be named for security reasons said heavy shooting started in the community at about 12.15a.m. and lasted more than an hour. He said members of the local vigilante group were overwhelmed. “We didn’t sleep throughout the night. It’s this morning that the vigilantes told us about 20 people were abducted,” he said. The attack is coming days after reports suggested that members of the extremist group, Boko Haram, had infiltrated the federal capital. More details later. Source: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/413592-breaking-gunmen-attack-abuja-community-abduct-residents.html |
| Crime › Why Didn’t Police Invite Army, Air Force Over Killer-herdsmen, Ohanaeze Scribe by Nik77(op): 8:36pm On Aug 24, 2020 |
IPOB, Police clash: Why didn’t Police invite Army, Air Force over killer-herdsmen, Ohanaeze scribe asks ON AUGUST 24, 20206:43 PMIN NEWS By Anayo Okoli Mr. Uche Achi-Okpagha, Acting Secretary-General and National Publicity Secretary of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has wondered why the state Commissioner of Police did not invite the Army, Air Force and other security agents over killer-herdsmen on rampage in the South-East, but did so when members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, were holding a peaceful meeting at Emene, Enugu State. In a statement in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State, Achi-Okpagha wondered why the security agencies will unleash such mayhem on members of a peaceful group. Okpagha, who is also the National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze, called on the Inspector-General of Police to order a full-scale investigation into the incident. He said: “Ohanaeze has kept a studied silence on the issue. In my personal opinion, I heard the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, on the radio saying he contacted the Army and the Air Force and I pitied myself and my people. “Don’t we have rules of engagement in Nigeria again? How can you be unleashing such an extra-maximum form on civilians? “Note that they were not seen on the road or streets disturbing the peace of the environment. “How many times has he invited the Army and Air Force to the bushes in Enugu State where our people are killed, maimed, women and daughters raped by killer-herdsmen or bandits as you may have it? “How many times did he invite them to our farms and villages being pulverised by these miscreants? “In the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, when truckloads of people from the North were coming into Enugu, did he invite the Army and the Air Force to stop them? “It were better that he did not make any statement at all. I urge the IGP to order a full-scale investigation into the matter, where, in the guise of maintaining peace, a lot of budding young men were gunned down by the combined security forces. “What kind of peace was achieved in the whole exercise? Even if they were IPOB members, I have never heard of them attacking anybody in Enugu. “It is completely unfortunate as it is unfair to unleash such force on civilians who were without guns. “This is democracy for crying out loud. The duty of the police is to arrest and prosecute not to kill. “I watched a viral video of the Shi’ites (also said to be proscribed) in Abuja addressing and attacking the person and integrity of the President in the full glare of the Police,” the Ohanaeze scribe added over the attack on IPOB members. Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/08/ipob-police-clash-why-didnt-police-invite-army-air-force-over-killer-herdsmen-ohanaeze-scribe-asks/ |
| Politics › Re: Why Mailafia Will Not Honour Police Invitation – Legal Team by Nik77: 7:57pm On Aug 24, 2020 |
Patrioticman007:Let El Rufai be compelled also to produce those Fulani terrorists and bandits responsible for the mindless violence in Southern Kaduna. He knows them; remember he once paid them |
| Foreign Affairs › Re: Faces Of Mali Coup Leaders Unveiled (Photos) by Nik77: 7:32pm On Aug 19, 2020 |
politicsng:The person mentioned is not the Chief of Army Staff but the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Military Region of Kati. |
| Crime › Ex-soldier Sentenced To Death For Asking Question After Losing 38 Colleagues by Nik77(op): 11:14am On Aug 19, 2020 |
Video of a former Nigerian soldier who was sentenced to death for asking question after 17 years of service has surfaced online. Narrating how he was sentenced to death, the former Nigerian soldier identified as Dele Olawale disclosed that he was enlisted into the army in January 2003, was later posted to 82 Demonstration Battalion, Kaduna Jaji after training and alongside others participated in different military operations. The ex-soldier, Olawale while recounting how the whole scenario began on 12th September, 2013 said they (soldiers) were called by their commander that they should prepare for military operation because they want to go and fight at a place called Kafia forest. Olawale stated that they were briefed that the people they are planning to fight have been in the place since 2003 and have become a strong force in the area. The commander told us that an Alpha jet will firstly soften the ground for us before we launch our attack in mobbing the rest. Olawale added they (soldiers) were so confident that the end of Boko Haram terrorists is near and they were so happy about it. We took our leave but at a point we could not see the Alpha jet again yet our commander said we still have to go unknowingly that they (insurgents) have laid ambush on us which led to serious battle but God saved my life. We lost 38 soldiers on that day, Olawale stressed. According to Olawale, the commander addressed the soldiers the following day and ordered that they (soldiers) should go and prepare to recover the bodies of fallen soldiers which prompted him to asked a question. You told us pointblantly that the people (insurgents) are of strong force and we (soldiers) can not go there without the Alpha Jet softening the ground for us, Olawale queried. The commander told Olawale and other soldiers that it was not his fault and the problem he had was the Air Force because they failed him. Owing to lack of trust and soldiers’ belief that the statement uttered by the commander was a lie, the soldiers from the rear started murmuring, later began shooting into the air to protest the statement which forced the man to leave. Olawale further revealed that he was redeployed to Magunmeri Local Government in Borno state where I met some military police who told me to follow them because my attention is needed. colleagues who were sentenced to death The military police requested me to write a statement on what I knew about the incident that happened on the parade ground on that particular day. I narrated the incident, went back to my location and later redeployed to another area called Damasak, a rather sad Nigerian soldier said. ‘Following month, I was called and told that the question I asked from my commander was a mutinous question and I was charged for mutiny. They started transporting me from one detention to another for a year. On a fateful day in Abuja, popular lawyer and activist, Femi Falana came and requested to see soldiers that were charged for mutiny. He listed to our stories and stood in for us as our legal practitioner. The court marshal started and we were sentenced to death. We were moved from Abuja to military intelligence underground in Lagos. We were there for a year and denied the chances to see our families before they took us to prison, Olawale narrated. According to Olawale, Femi Falana appealed the death verdict and pushed the case with a lot of energies and strong determination. I was writing 200 level of National Open University (NOUN) examination inside the prison when I was called and Femi Falana told us that we (the four of us) have been discharged and acquitted. The prison officials told us that we have been discharged. The wife of the ex-soldier who is also a mother of four narrated the ugly and worry side of life they went through following the ordeal of their breadwinner. She disclosed that she had the pregnancy of her lastborn during the trial and the whole family went through hell. Appealing to the Nigerian Army to pay her husband’s entitlements, the mother of four who was in tears said things have become worse for the family and survival is very hard. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE: https://gcfrng.com/2020/08/19/ex-soldier-sentenced-to-death-for-asking-question-after-losing-38-colleagues-recounts-ordeal/amp/ |
| Science/Technology › Re: Bones Of Dinosaur Specie That Lived 115 Million Years Ago Found In England (Pix) by Nik77: 7:11am On Aug 17, 2020 |
tobillionaire:They have been found in the Sahara Desert. Research is ongoing there even as we speak. 1 Like |
| Christianity Etc › Re: Ifayemi Elebuibon Hosts Witches And Wizards In Osun by Nik77: 11:22pm On Aug 15, 2020 |
orisa37:WHERE ARE THE DADDY GO'S WHEN CHRISTIANS ARE BEEN WIPED OUT IN NIGERIA? 1 Like |
| Crime › Tension Mounts In Niger State Over Abduction Of School Girl 15, By 70-yr-old Man by Nik77(op): 11:25pm On Aug 07, 2020 |
They changed my name from Victory to Hadiza and assigned me ‘husband’- Victim We want our daughter back-Grieving parents cry out We’ve charged suspects to court and taken custody of victim – NAPTIP DG Soni Daniel – Abuja Tension is rising in Madallah, the suburb of Niger State over the alleged abduction of a Christian schoolgirl, whose name is given as Victory by a chief in the community. The man simply identified as Muhammed, about 70 years old, reportedly took custody of Victory, a student of Government Secondary School, Zuba near Abuja on a Sunday and connived with some others and changed her name from Victory to the Hausa name of Hadiza without the knowledge and consent of her parents. According to the victim’s father, Victory was also assigned a new husband while in the custody of her captors in the three weeks that they seized and kept her in their hideout. Victory’s father, Paul, narrated to Arewa Voice how her daughter inexplicably disappeared from home that fateful Sunday and how all efforts by the family to locate her failed. The hapless father, who is grieving over the fate of her daughter, said the man had seized and hid the girl in his custody for three weeks until a water vendor popularly known in Hausa as ‘Mairuwa’ alerted him of the abduction of her daughter by the man. “My family is distraught to see how a 70-year-old man can abduct my daughter and without any shame, keep her in his house for more than three weeks until some people brought the information to us. “As we speak, the personal effects of my daughter are still in the man’s house even though the girl has been rescued and taken away by NAPTIP, which fought hard with the aid of others to retrieve her from the man’s house. “When we discovered that the man had taken the girl and we approached him, the man was very boastful that my daughter voluntarily ‘converted to Islam’ and that he was taking her to Suleja if we insisted on taking her back and we were all shocked. “The suspect even demanded that we the parents must sign an agreement with him before he could release my daughter to me. We reported the matter to the police but they said they could not do anything about it and then some persons reached out to NAPTIP that eventually stepped in. “As we speak, our daughter is in the custody of NAPTIP but we want her back urgently. Responding to Arewa Voice enquiry on the matter, the Director-General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, confirmed the incident and the arrest of the suspects involved. The DG disclosed that while the suspects had been charged to court for trafficking, the victim, Victory was still being attended to in one of NAPTIP’s centres. “We are on top of that case and we want to ensure that all those implicated in the matter face the full weight of the law,” the DG declared. Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/08/tension-mounts-in-niger-state-over-abduction-of-school-girl-15-by-70-yr-old-man/ |
| Politics › Doctor Farah Dagogo Insists On Niger Delta Controling Its Oil by Nik77(op): 12:03am On Aug 03, 2020 |
The Member Representing Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo has advocated that the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta should be allowed to control their resources, just like the communities in the North control their gold. He opined that the communities should be allowed to either refine independently, or take their oil to any choice refinery and sell at the international rate; and pay tax to the federal government as entailed in a true federal system.https://punchng.com/niger-delta-should-control-oil-like-north-now-controls-gold-rivers-rep-dagogo/ 53 Likes 5 Shares
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| Politics › Re: Boko Haram Attack: Governor Zulum Tackles Army After Attack On His Convoy by Nik77: 2:37pm On Jul 30, 2020 |
Arrewa:If him no talk sense wetin stop you from talking your own sense. Talk you own sense make we hear. |
| Science/Technology › Re: Crocrodiles In America Came From Africa 11 Million Years Ago (Photos) by Nik77: 8:10am On Jul 24, 2020 |
HundredWays:The world as a whole (I.e. the universe) is roughly 14 billion years old, while the earth upon which we dwell is about 4.5 billion years old! |
| Science/Technology › Re: Crocrodiles In America Came From Africa 11 Million Years Ago (Photos) by Nik77: 8:03am On Jul 24, 2020 |
Akwalex1:About 14 billion years! |
| Politics › Re: Erring Igbo Elders Should Be Stoned – Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Backs Kanu by Nik77: 10:16am On Jul 04, 2020 |
helinues:Is Nigeria a "civilized" country? 2 Likes |
| Politics › Re: Erring Igbo Elders Should Be Stoned – Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Backs Kanu by Nik77: 10:14am On Jul 04, 2020 |
IamWonderful:Tell that to the Fulani herdsmen, bandits and jihadists. Tell it to the North! |
| Politics › Re: Erring Igbo Elders Should Be Stoned – Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Backs Kanu by Nik77: 10:13am On Jul 04, 2020 |
ajailer:Tell that to the Fulani herdsmen, bandits and jihadists. Tell it to the North! 1 Like |
| Crime › Masari Blames Volunteers For Bandits' Attacks, Kidnapping In Katsina by Nik77(op): 10:33pm On Jun 28, 2020 |
By Francis Sardauna The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has blamed the spate of insecurity bedevilling the state on volunteers (Yan’sakai) and informants who support the bandits and kidnappers terrorizing communities in the state. He lamented that volunteers and informants had made it very cumbersome for security agencies to tackle the wave of banditry and kidnapping confronting communities in the state. Masari spoke on Saturday while condoling with the victims of banditry and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Faskari and Dandume Local Government Areas of the state. The governor, flanked by his Deputy, Alhaji Mannir Yakubu; the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Mustapha Inuwa; other top government officials and security chiefs, visited Kadisau village, IDPs camps in Faskari Model Primary School and Dandume Primary School respectively. THISDAY reliably gathered that there are 4,688 IDPs, mostly women and children currently camping in Faskari and Dandume Primary Schools. He said: “We don’t accept or approve Yan’sakai because in most cases, they are the ones that trigger mass killings. Yan’sakai will travel 20 or 30kms from their place to another place and kill a Fulani or anybody they suspect to be bandit. “When the Fulani people and bandits in the forest come out, they attack a nearest community that was not involved in the killing of the person alleged to have been killed by them. “It has happened in Kadisau and many other places that we saw massive killings. We don’t approve the activities of Yan’sakai but the vigilantes working with the police is what we are working to make sure that they are properly trained to assist the police before the coming of community policing.” Masari, during the sympathy visit, renewed his pledge to do everything humanly possible to tackle the wave of insecurity bedevilling the state to enable the displaced persons return to their ancestral homes. He assured them that joint security operatives would go after the bandits and assiduously work to put an end to the indiscriminate killings and kidnapping of innocent citizens in the state. He lamented the recent dastardly attacks orchestrated by bandits, which resulted in the losses of hundreds of lives and property worth millions of naira in front line local government areas of the state. The governor described the incident as unfortunate and expressed the state government’s unequivocal determination to end the menace. Source: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/06/27/masari-blames-volunteers-for-bandits-attacks-kidnapping-in-katsina/amp/ |
| Crime › Restructure Now Or Risk Nigeria’s Collapse — Obasanjo by Nik77(op): 11:49pm On Jun 26, 2020 |
ABEOKUTA – Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday called for the reorganisation of the nation’s security architecture, saying that this is will make the country to overcome her security challenges. Obasanjo, who said this in a lecture he delivered at the 2020 Sobo Sowemimo Annual Lecture organised by the Abeokuta Club, maintained that the handling of security situations by the present government do not give any individual or group any assurance of a secured nation. The former President, while speaking on the lecture titled “COVID-19 and Nigeria Security Issues: The Way Forward”, posited that the issue of fighting insecurity in any part of the country, must be collective responsibility of all. “Our destiny is in our own hands. In reform and restructuring, security architecture, structure and arrangement must devolve more security responsibility on the community, local and state authorities”. “Unfortunately, I have recently observed from some writers on the security situation in the North, the feeling or attitude of ‘it serves them right’. We must not gloat at the difficulties or misfortune of others, rather we must emphathise”. “Wherever there is insecurity in Nigeria, it must be of concern to all of us. It should not be the attitude of ‘am alright Jack’ or ‘it serves them right’. I believe it should be ‘we are all in one bad boat and we must put all hands on deck to fix it’. Maybe now that we are all feeling the pinch, the collective fixing will be understood and be easy to accomplish”, Obasanjo said. “I will not hesitate to say in this statement, Arewa message, spoke the minds and made presentation on behalf of majority of right-thinking Nigerians and not Northern Nigerians alone. We are all bothered and burdened”. “The beginning should be seeking to know why the criminals are doing what they are doing and with that knowledge, we can begin to work out permanent solution that will move criminals from crimes, and take away insecurity for all of us”. “Insecurity in any form and in any part of Nigeria is insecurity for us all. I have also heard it nuanced that the ‘North’ will not make the mistake of Jonathan again, meaning no Southerner will be seen as President of Nigeria again. And, of course, no Middle-Belter! What a dangerous and destructive idea and position for anybody to take! Such notion will prove those who regard 1914 as a mistake correct. But pursuing such an agenda may unleash colossal insecurity and violence of unimaginable proportion on the country. I know, for sure, it was such mentality that permanently divided Sudan”. “We are all challenged to put our thinking caps on, join hands and seek solution together to insecurity, otherwise we will be destroyed piecemeal. There is no time to stand and stare or just to continue to call on governments that are ineffective”. “Let us take initiative and spearhead actions that will involve governments and the governed and will devolve security architecture, apparatus, arrangement and responsibility in subsidiarity”. “Papering over the obvious cracks in Nigeria’s polity is not the answer, tearing up or seeking disintegration is also not the solution, remaining silent makes us accomplices and irresponsibly so”. “The solution lies in men and women imbued with courage, nationalism, patriotism, commitment, foresight and love in critical mass, to spearhead the crusade for new Nigeria. Let us launch and promote such a crusade on the slogan “Security Matters To All; No security, No Nigeria”. And the time is now”. “Delay is postponing the evil day. Failure to act now will lead to more frustration, greater despair and larger mentality and feeling that may lead to action of ‘break it all up’. May God forbid that! And may God, who I have always described as a Nigerian, save Nigeria. But we should be mindful that God’s patience has limit of elasticity. Hence, we must not continue to tempt Him”. “It is evident that no ethnic group nor geopolitical zone and not even the Fulanis in Nigeria are collectively satisfied with the present situation in spite of president Buhari being a Fulani man. I am, of course, discounting invidious and irredeemable Fulani fundamentalists and hegemonists. I believe that you find such people within any Nigerian tribal or ethnic group”. “We must not adopt position of mindlessness ‘do nothing’ and allow a few to wreck our present and our future. Together, we can have Nigeria of our dream. And I believe that there are Nigerians in all walks of life, from all ethnic groups, religious groups, cultural groups, political groups and across age and gender who will work genuinely and sincerely for emergence of a new Nigeria based on principles of democracy, equity, justice, mutual respect, egalitarianism, good governance, federal character, and extol merit and competence”. Obasanjo equally called for reform of the basic structure of Nigeria’s federating units, saying that there is need for the repositioning of the country for the purpose of unity, equity, competence, good governance, security, stability, healthy competition, justice, fast socio-economic development and as well make Nigeria undisputed regional leader. “My personal conviction is that, with the experience we have had operating the current Constitution where we have seen some important aspects of the Constitution being breached willfully and wantonly and with the centre seemingly being overwhelmed by the issue of security, with crying need from different quarters for reform of the basic structure of Nigeria’s federating units, there is need for the repositioning of our country for the purpose of unity, equity, competence, good governance, security, stability, healthy competition, justice, fast socio-economic development and making Nigeria undisputed regional leader”. “As a regional leader, Nigeria must always be at the table and be an effective contributor to global decision-making process and adequate share in worldwide division of labour and global resources”. “I remain firmly convinced that without reform of federating units, as I will like to satisfy those who may not like the word ‘restructuring’, Nigeria will remain insecure, unstable, non-progressive and stagnated at best or disintegrated at the worst”. “I have not lived for the demise of Nigeria nor for its destruction or incapacitation in any form. Rather, I have lived to make and see a great and united country”. All rights reserved. This material and any other digital content on this platform may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, written or distributed in full or in part, without written permission from VANGUARD NEWS. UROWAYINO JEREMIAH Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/06/insecurity-obasanjo-calls-for-the-reorganization-of-security-architecture/ |
| Crime › Lance Corporal Martins Spoke Truth, Buratai Has Failed—junaid Mohammed by Nik77(op): 7:02pm On Jun 26, 2020 |
A Nigerian lawmaker in the second republic, Dr Junaid Mohammed, has called for the immediate release of Lance Corporal Martins, a soldier in the Nigerian Army, who was arrested after making a video blasting the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, and other security chiefs of the country. The soldier was arrested on the order of Buratai. Martins said Buratai and other security chiefs in the country had failed in their responsibilities to defend the country. Calling for the release of the soldier, Mohammed said the soldier spoke the ‘simple truth’ about the Nigerian Army and did not deserve to be detained. He stated that Buratai and the military were treating Lance Corporal Martins in an unfair manner, adding that the soldier should not be detained arbitrarily. Mohammed said, “The simple truth is that the Nigerian Army under Buratai has failed and is also failing. “Under normal circumstances, the responsibility of the armed forces is to defend the country against the external enemy because the primary responsibility is to make sure that enemies of Nigeria don’t get the opportunity to either destroy the country or facilitate the killings of innocent Nigerians. “In all these areas, the Nigerian Armed Forces have failed particularly the Nigerian Army under Buratai who is more of a businessman. “There is the issue of what is acceptable within the Armed Forces, can a soldier criticise the army, I think not. But when the internal channels provided for the service are not available or perhaps people who have genuine grievances for themselves or for the service or people of the country are muscled deliberately then of course other channels must be opened. “What he said is true. They can only quarrel with his motivation but what he said about insecurity is true. It is only a lousy army like the likes of Buratai who have been appointed not on merit but other considerations. They are being unfair to the person and if they have any sense, they should release him.” He added, “He (Lance Corporal Martins) should be released. This injustice has become the order of the day under Buratai. “As far as I’m concerned, nobody should be above the law but at the same time, nobody should be subjected to arbitrary detention and trials. “The man must be released, if not I will endorse overwhelming and any attempts by his colleagues to free him.” SEE ALSO Nigerian Soldier Arrested After Making Video Saying Buratai, Service Chiefs Have Failed Nigerians Mohammed dispelled claims that Buratai had been able to foil about 15 coup d’tat against the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. He adds, “If anybody wants to carry out a coup, General Buhari has given enough reason for anyone who is ambitious or reckless enough to want to try to go ahead. “If he refuses to continue to ignore the voices of the people, this is an open invitation to rebellion or uprising. If the situation in the North West and country continues, we are heading towards disaster.” SAHARA REPORTERS Source: http://saharareporters.com/2020/06/26/lance-corporal-martins-spoke-truth-buratai-has-failed%E2%80%94junaid-mohammed |
| Politics › Nigeria Moves Closer To Becoming A Failed State by Nik77(op): 5:11pm On May 29, 2020 |
The situation in Africa's most populous country is unravelling, and its president of five years appears to be making things worse AYO ADEDOYIN 28 May 2020 • 4:35pm Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari The clouds are darkening over Nigeria. Its government has just announced that it is unable to afford food imports, precisely when it needs them most. The coronavirus pandemic has surged to almost 10,000 confirmed cases, and killed roughly 250 people, including the president’s Chief of Staff. Yet this is the least of my dual-country’s problems. It is experiencing widespread food shortages, the rebirth of Islamic State (Isil) in West Africa after having being dislodged from Syria and Iraq, as well as political corruption, a media in thrall to President Muhammadu Buhari and – on top of all this – deadly diseases besides coronavirus, such as malaria. Given the wasteland developing in Nigeria, home to 200 million people, one might have sympathy for its leader. But Buhari, an ex-military general, is seen in many quarters as somewhat complicit in the multiple layers of insecurity that bedevils the country. He came to power in 2015 on a wave of hope from voters who looked up to him as the man to eradicate the twin evils of corruption and insecurity. Today, however, many would say that he has made both evils worse. Indeed his own native clansmen of mainly migratory Fulani herders have been largely accused of working hand-in-hand with Islamic State West Africa (Iswap), currently rampaging through sub-Saharan Africa and orchestrating the brutal slaughter of innocent citizens, many of whom are Christian farmers. These farmers are attacked not only for their land resources, but for practising a heretical faith in the eyes of Islamist extremists. Twelve of Nigeria’s nineteen northern states are under Sharia (Islamic law), and Christians in these states face discrimination. The International Committee on Nigeria (Icon) recently reported that Boko Haram has killed 43,242 Nigerians since 2010. In addition, Fulani jihadists slaughtered 17,284 Nigerians since 2010, bringing the combined total to 60,526. The true number is feared to be far higher owing to mass burnings, chaotic attack aftermaths, disappearances and population displacement. It is shocking that all this is happening in a key Commonwealth member state and Africa’s largest economy, whose leader boasts a close relationship with Prince Charles. Boris Johnson meets The President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari at The UK Africa Investment Summit . Boris Johnson meets The President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari at The UK Africa Investment Summit CREDIT: Eddie Mulholland Icon reports there have been 7,558 terrorist-related incidents in the last decade, with the insurgency far worse in Nigeria than in the surrounding West African countries. Long before the murder of farmers is taken into account, this is already a massacre of Syrian proportions. But the news that Nigeria cannot afford to import food from abroad sheds more light on the suffering that the agricultural implosion will have on the whole country. The Islamist-inspired massacres of Christian farmers, who have contributed immensely to Nigeria’s agriculture and domestic food production, mean that the threat of starvation hangs over the millions who have managed to escape the killing fields. Tragically, many of the most vulnerable in need of food are fleeing the violence and congregating in internal displacement camps prone to widespread coronavirus transmission. It makes us question what Nigeria and President Buhari’s regime is doing with around £300 million a year of British taxpayer money in the form of foreign aid, especially if Nigeria can no longer afford food imports. While the latest food crisis is virus-related and has been triggered by the crash in the oil price, one cannot completely ignore the pre-existing plight of vulnerable farmers, and the government’s failure to protect them from a nascent Islamic State hungry for power and resources. The humanitarian group I lead, PSJ UK, has long warned that the carnage inflicted on Christians and other vulnerable groups in the emerging northern Nigerian caliphate will have repercussions for broader society, locally and internationally. As I read of potential starvation in a country that was once called the ‘breadbasket’ of West Africa, I hope more than ever to be proven wrong. Ayo Adedoyin is Chief Executive of PSJ UK, a humanitarian organisation campaigning against the persecution of Christians in Nigeria Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/28/nigeria-moves-closer-becoming-failed-statpm |
| Science/Technology › Re: Africa’s Sahara ‘Most Dangerous Place On Earth’ 100 Million Years Ago (Photo) by Nik77: 2:50pm On Apr 29, 2020 |
ValCon888:There were no humans during the Cretaceous Period, which began 145.0 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago. The Cretaceous Period, in geologic time, was the last of the three periods of the Mesozoic Era. Modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged only 300,000 years ago, during the Age of Mammals, a.k.a. the Cenozoic Era, which was the third of the major eras of Earth’s history, beginning about 66 million years ago and extending to the present. |
| Crime › Police Arrest Killers Of Catholic Seminarian, Mrs Ataga, Others by Nik77(op): 11:28pm On Apr 27, 2020 |
By Molly Kilete,Abuja & Christopher Oji, Lagos The Nigerian Police Force headquarters in Abuja has arrested the kidnappers and killers of Nnadi Michael, a Catholic seminarian at the Catholic Good Shepherd Major Seminary in Gonin Gora, Kakau in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The deceased was abducted alongside three of his colleagues on January 9, when the gang raided the seminary, while the remaining three were released on January, 31, after collecting a ransom of an undisclosed amount from their families. The suspects, Tukur Usman, 37; Shehu Bello, 40 and Mustapha Mohammed, 30; all of Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State, were arrested by detectives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT). Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, said the suspects who are members of a deadly kidnap gang were responsible for the kidnap and murder of Dr. Phillip Ataga’s wife and two daughters on January 24, 2020 at Juji Community in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State. Mrs Ataga was said to have being killed after she refused the leader of the gang to rape her. He said the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, had ordered for the manhunt and arrest of other members of the gang who are on the run. Mba, in a statement, said “Police operatives have arrested a deadly criminal gang responsible for the kidnap and murder of a Catholic seminarian, Nnadi Michael of the Catholic Good Shepherd Major Seminary at Gonin Gora, Kakau in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State. Recall that, on January 9, 2020, the criminal gang stormed the Catholic Seminary and kidnapped four (4) seminarians, murdered one of them in cold blood and released the remaining three on 31st January, 2020, having obtained a ransom. The remains of the fourth Seminarian were found in a bush where abandoned. “The suspects: Tukur Usman ‘m’ aged 37, father of 7, Shehu Bello ‘m’ aged 40, father of 5 and Mustapha Mohammed ‘m’ aged 30, father of 1, all of Igabi LGA of Kaduna State were arrested after several months of intensive and extensive intelligence-led operations by crack detectives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT). “Discreet investigations so far reveal that the arrested suspects are part of a 19-man gang that also carried out the kidnap of Dr Phillip Ataga’s wife and two daughters on January 24, 2020 at Juji Community in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State. Mrs Ataga was killed by the gang following her heroic resistance to the despicable and inhuman attempt by the leader of the gang to rape her. The suspects after killing her released the daughters and corpse of the slain woman to the family after collecting ransom. “Further investigations reveal that the same criminal gang is responsible for the kidnap of six students and two teachers of Engravers College, Chikun LGA, Kaduna, from their school premises on October 3, 2019. The suspects, known to belong to a hybrid terrorist criminal network causing untold havoc in North-Central, Nigeria, have confessed to several other random operations along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway where they kidnapped, killed and robbed motorists, collecting ransom and valuables running into millions of naira. “The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, while reiterating that the Force will remain unrelenting in ensuring that crimes across the country are reduced to the barest minimum, assures the nation that the Force will not rest until the other members of the gang also responsible for the above crimes, but currently on the run, are apprehended and brought to book Source: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/police-arrest-killers-of-catholic-seminarian-mrs-ataga-others/amp/ |
| Crime › Fulani Herdsmen Climb Trees To Keep Vigil On Hostages, Hideouts In Delta by Nik77(op): 10:18am On Apr 25, 2020 |
AN electronics product distributor at Onitsha, Anambra State, Lemmy Ifeanyi Isibor, 41, abducted February 14, at Issele-Azagba, Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State, by armed herdsmen, has revealed that the abductors mounted and hung around trees in the forest where they commandeered them, to keep eyes on the hideout, hostages and “intruders” especially police and vigilante groups searching for them (kidnappers). Isibor, a native of Ute Erumu in Ika North East local government area of the state, who coughed out N1.3 million ransom before he was released, said the herdsmen were ready to kill anybody that ventured into the camp, a valley in a seeming desert between Issele-Azagba and Ibusa in Oshimili North local government area . He told our reporter: “My name is Isibor Ifeanyi Lemmy, a distributor of electronics product in Onitsha. Yes, I was abducted by Fulani heardsmen on February 14. It was about 8:15pm when they jumped through my fence , the gate was locked, but entrance gate to my parlour was not locked at that time.” How they invaded my house “They gained entrance to my parlour, four of the Fulani heardsmen were fully armed with military gun, AK 47, dressed in military trouser camouflage, black jacket and covered their their faces with masks. “Before I knew what was happening, they bailed me and my family up with AK 47 rifles and ransacked my entire house. “They collected N12,400, our feeding money. Wait for it, they carted away our cooked rice , canned juices and bottled waters in the frigde. “After that, they ordered me to follow them into the bush where I met two female students and one lecturer kidnapped same day and also held up in the bush. “ They took all off us deep into a forest, which we trekked for almost six and half hours. I was severely totured in the bush. In fact, they tied my two hands and two legs closed to decomposed dead body , which they killed within that week . “ They demanded for ransom of N10 million the next day, 15/02/20. I could not raise the N10 million. I only raised N1.3m which they accepted to collect at the time frame of 9.00pm they gave me”, he said. Police offer delivered N1.3 m ransom The victim did not speak on who brought the ransom, but confirmed that ransom was paid before they released him. According to him: “The community is handicapped as they do not have the weapon to fight the threatening Fulani herdsmen. This incident happened at Issele Azagba -Ogwashi-Uku road leading to Ogwashi – Uku Polytechnic.’ How they tortured us “ It was a bad experience, as there was no food, no water and my right hand was paralysed due to the constant toture on me in the forest. ”Also, the two female studunts abducted were severely raped in our presence. Although they asked me to close my eyes when they were raping the girls, Iam very sure they are Fulani heardsmen because they unmasked their faces while the moon was shinning in the forest and they were speaking Nigel language. ”Indeed, we were four people kidnapped same day at Azagba Ogwashi town, myself and one other man with two female students Den in a valley “They took us to a valley in a desert where we trekked for good six hours. By 12 pm/1:30pm, they tied my two legs and my two hands with the other man but they did not tie the two girls. “They climb the trees and on top of the trees, they kept surveiilance on us and the environment, including police officers and vigilante group,” he stated. Quizzed on his insistence that his abductors were Fulani, he asserted: “If I see Fulani I will know. They are very different from Hausas and they were speaking Nigel language. They are Fulanis. I saw them unmask and if I see them tomorrow I will know them. “ “They tortured us with cable wires, beat us with wood, flogged us mercilessly, tied us up for 24 hours. Until now, I am still taking treatment to revive my nerves on my right hand which they paralyzed Modus operandi “ Their mode of operation is that they target beautiful houses in developing areas close to the bush and they will strike. I regained freedom by paying ransom of N1.3m. “The kidnapers have turned Iselle Azagba and Azagba- Ogwashi to kidnaping trade zone and the authorities are not concerned, probably it is not affecting any of their relatives. “ My regret about security in Delta State is that government in power is not showing interest in securing the rural areas where I leave. They only have interest in securing the urban areas,” he added . However, a government official said it was not true the state was not showing any interest in securing rural areas, pointing out: “The Senator Ifeanyi Okowa government has been providing vehicles and logistics for the police to stem kidnapping and other crimes.” Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/04/herdsmen-climb-trees-to-keep-vigil-on-hostages-hideouts-in-delta-kidnap-victim/ |
| Crime › COVID-19 Lockdown: ‘my Encounter With Police In New Karu’ By Terkula Igidi by Nik77(op): 7:55am On Apr 17, 2020 |
COVID-19 lockdown: ‘My encounter with police in New Karu’ By Terkula Igidi Published Date Apr 17, 2020 0:53 AM The police station at New Karu, a suburb close to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in Karu local government of Nasarawa State are taking advantage of the 24-hour curfew imposed on the LG by Governor Abdullahi Sule, to dehumanize and extort residents. I was a victim of the police on Wednesday night at about 9: 45 pm and I found out that lives of detainees are placed in danger as the cell was crammed with suspects, most of them arrested for allegedly flouting the curfew. As the Daily Trust City News Editor, I had gone out to meet up with sources for a story I am working on, but I was arrested alongside the three persons. I met up with the sources for a sodomy story I am working on at a relaxation spot in New Karu, but police arrived there, manhandled and bundled us into a white Toyota Hilux patrol van while my pleas that I was exempted from the curfew by virtue of my profession fell on deaf ears. Where I was arrested with the sources, there were over five other persons there, but the patrol team extorted N100, 000 from each of them and released them. At the station, they tried to force those arrested into the crowded, dirty cell and when the woman whose son, a man was trying to lure into sodomy, who I had met to get the story, tried to make a call to her brother that she was arrested and was at the station, one Okpe, who is probably a Corporal, slapped her and said she did not have the right to make a call. When I intervened, he insulted me and threatened that he would deal with us before taking us to New Nyanya Police Area Command, where the Area Commander would teach us a lesson. He also threatened to shave the beards of the fixer, who argued that journalists were exempted from the curfew or lockdown but he (Okpe) boasted that he is an arro-baga (a cultist) and he would kill him and nothing will happen. When the fixer said it was an embarrassment that a policeman serving in the home state of the Inspector General of Police was boasting publicly of being a cultist, he slapped the fixer on the right cheek. A colleague of mine later came and pleaded and we were released late at night. Other residents who also had similar experiences said their worst fear is the police, who usually come out in mufti and private vehicles. They said it was difficult to differentiate between the policemen and hoodlums. The Nasarawa Police Command spokesman, ASP Rahman Nansel, said the commissioner of police has zero tolerance for corruption in the state and if anybody comes out to report he will take action. He insisted that the curfew in Karu is 24 hours and they don’t expect anybody to come out. He, however, admitted that journalists are exempted from the curfew because they are essential workers on the frontlines Read more: https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/covid-19-lockdown-my-encounter-with-police-in-new-karu.html |
| Foreign Affairs › Re: Idris Derby Visited By Chadian Legislators At His Temporary Base In The Forest by Nik77: 10:39am On Apr 08, 2020 |
LivingSage:And what on earth could be more important than the security of life and property? 1 Like |
| Politics › Northern Nigeria: We The South-south Are Tired by Nik77(op): 1:03pm On Mar 18, 2020 |
The truth may taste bitter but it sets free. I will throw away political correctness and let the North know how the South feels because the North has to sit up and shape up. Today, it’s Boko Haram. Tomorrow it’s banditry. Yesterday, it was confounding mass illiteracy. And no mention has been made yet about the abiding mass obesity of the North. Family resources are being wasted fighting useless fires! The truth is, the South increasingly sees the North like a slothful temperamental brother that has stubbornly refused to go to school and has begun to keep the company of bad gangs. So the North isn’t just a laid back family black sheep, it’s now the sort of black sheep that is bringing in wolves and troubles to impoverish and imperil the family. And nothing rankles the South more than the fact that the North seems utterly oblivious of its predicaments and their toll on fortunes and future of the family. If the North understood the magnitude of its problems, its leaders will weep every day. The South wants his brother the North to take out time and do some sober reflection in a pan Arewa village meeting. Their emirs, their generals, their billionaires, their Islamic clerics. So that the North can ask himself soul-searching questions about how he came to such a sorry pass. Because nothing irritates the South more than the fact that the South sees the North, every day, chasing political shadows instead of chasing its children to school, instead of taking care of its ever-increasing number of young pregnant women. The South is amused when he watches the North occupy himself, chasing population numbers, disfiguring meritocracy with the quota system and resisting power devolution instead of taking practical steps to save his children from poverty and illiteracy. Yes, this is how the South feels. I know the North has things to tell the South too. It’s normal. But this is how the South feels. The South is not an angel and the South is not without its own conspicuous sins. But the South can’t understand why a brother beset with so many crippling self-inflicted wounds could yet be so aloof, so arrogant, so enamoured of frivolity. This is the North in the eyes of the South today: The picture of a backward brother in a poor family. The picture of a fat family liability. I promised to tell the whole truth. There is a feeling of disgust that seizes a brother when his own brother’s prodigal shortcomings and recklessness threatens to plunge the entire family into turmoil and shame. It solidifies into repugnance when rather than face his problems, perhaps, that brother takes more interest in claiming ‘firstsonship’ and talking about how his brother has lost respect for him. And rebuking sympathizers harshly, with reminders about groundnut pyramids and how he was once the prosperous one. The truth is, the South has logged in its own eyes. The South might even suffer from bigotry. But it is indisputable that his brother’s slothfulness poses a more immediate calamity to the family. The South wants the North to sit up and zip up. Yes, zip-up and stop breeding the way our great grandfathers ignorantly did when there was little else to do than marry and have children. The extended family lacks the resources to feed one hundred million children. And neighbours mock when our scrawny children go plate in hand begging for food. The South wants the North to note how Fareed Zakaria painted Nigeria in glorious lights a couple of days ago. Nigeria has more percentage of PhD holders in America than China and the UK. Nigeria has a higher percentage of Bachelor’s degree holders in America than every other country. The CNN presenter told the world that Nigeria was rich in quality human resources. That data is Nigeria’s but it is plainly the South’s. Because last year Zamfara with all its puritanism couldn’t get more than 20 students to write the National Common entrance Exams. It is indeed, an abomination. But have you seen any northern leader weep over this? Or call for a Jihad to fight educational backwardness and social injustice in the north? So the South wants the North to produce only the children the North can feed and send them to good schools. The South doesn’t and can’t feel safe when his brother’s children rather than become doctors and lawyers are ending up in droves as angry street urchins. The South doesn’t know how to say it, but he is fed up with the North dragging the family numbers down. The South wants the North to see Boko Haram and banditry as wolves that can devour the entire family. The South wants the North to hold a village meeting and find a spiritual solution to the wolves. The South knows that his brother has a temper. But he is yet to see that temper unleashed on Boko Haram and banditry. He would like to see one Yerima or one Shinkafi stand up and issue a fatwa against Shekau and the insurgents. And follow it up by mobilizing 2 million volunteers into Borno. Because in actual sense the insurgents have blasphemed God and done incalculable damage to Islam. The South knows the North loves Sharia. It doesn’t mind. But it wants the north to open the windows of its mind and excommunicate religious intolerance. I’ve come to tell the North how the South feels. I didn’t come to mince words. The North must discard his pride and face his perilous reality. His farmlands are lying waste because of banditry while his children roam the streets with chronic malnutrition and preventable diseases. Northern leaders can’t be frolicking in Abuja and Kaduna plotting 2023! The South knows that it also has some rogues as leaders but it wants the North to stop scratching and smiling, and start treating, in earnest, the craw-craw of having about the worst set of leaders in a badly governed Africa. Alhamdulillah! God bless the North. Source: https://news-af.feednews.com/news/detail/0045461e7076dc9bcdc3715f58791f89?client=news |
| Politics › North Has Already Destroyed Itself – 1: Dele Sobowale by Nik77(op): 8:46am On Mar 16, 2020 |
“The North has become a region of endless funerals and perpetual bereavement. Bandits in the North have become a state. They impose fines and taxes, send notices, control spaces, determine life and death and operate without challenge” – Senator Shehu Sani of Kaduna State, March 2020. I wish that historical Lord Lugard and the King or Queen of England who granted him the powers to rule and ruin our lives are alive today to behold the explosions being set off by the time bomb they planted in this part of Africa in 1914. History does not tell us its alternatives. In other words, we don’t know what would have happened if amalgamation had not occurred. But, we are now beginning to see the beginning of the end of the “geographical expression” (apologies to the late Chief Awolowo) they formed and named Nigeria by the satraps’ concubine. More than a century after, the feudal, mostly Islamic North, backward, slow to adapt to changes, mostly lacking in any interest in universal education and bereft of vision, remains relatively just that. Just about any major calamity impeding progress and tending towards the destruction of the disaster waiting to happen is now located squarely in the North whose elite have, for too long lived, under the illusion that the region could increasingly breed millions of almajiris side-by-side with the selfish tiny political and feudal minority without dire consequences. Well, the “judgment days” are here. The almajiris, hitherto docile and gratefully accepting the crumbs from the elite’s tables, have literally turned the tables against their masters – including Sani – who, now dumped from the buffet table, discovered wisdom which previously escaped him and his friends and associates for years. This article could easily have been titled, LESSONS FROM A SUPER-TERRORIST, and it would still have been apt. In my library is a little known book titled, HITLER’S SECRET BOOK, and written by the late German monster himself. One thing I have learnt from my adventures into history is the fact that when the major topic on the national agenda is war, then go and read what war-mongers think about it. What is wrecking Nigeria, especially the North, and will continue for years to come, is TERRORISM. So, the first port of call is a super-terrorist – Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945. It will amaze our leaders and readers to know how much of what had developed in the North since the rise of Boko Haram in 2009 could have been predicted by reading Hitler’s book. The FG in particular might also pick up some ideas about what to expect next. Finally, they just might discover how to combat it – for the sake of our country Nigeria. I wish them luck; although it is doubtful that those in charge of our fate now can ever learn anything useful. People who have lost the appetite for reading have almost always lost the appetite for learning, for thinking deeply and for finding novel solutions to serious problems. The brain, like any organ, rots – if not actively used – as is the case within Abuja’s top government circles. Buhari, as the Commander-In-Condolence Delivery, C-I-CD, is contented to just send condolence messages to the bereaved without an accompanying message of hope that terror will abate. There is no discernible plan. He is an example of what David Halberstam, in his best-selling book, titled, THE BRIGHTEST AND THE BEST, called “the best general for another war.” General Buhari (retd), clearly tired, is leading this war effort so badly, it is pathetic. He is actually now part of the problem and it is increasingly difficult to see him as part of the solution. That is bad news for all of us. “An increase in the population which finally no longer stands any relation to the productive capacity of its own soil to support life” – Hitler p 22. That, according to Hitler, follows from prolonged periods when a people or nation or parts of it regard “large families as a blessing rather than a burden.” Only recently, the Federal House of Representatives was treated to a show put up by a buffoon. A member from one of the northern states brought his four wives for exhibition of his prowess. He announced that he already had 19 children and he was just starting because his father had several wives and over 80 children. He did not tell us how many of the 80 siblings are almajiris. That is the sort of lunacy to which the South is yoked – like indentured slaves. Eventually, as Hitler had warned us, territorial expansion becomes imperative for those who have exhausted the limits of their capacity to provide for themselves within their own domains. I will come to it later. But, the rapid and violent expansion of herdsmen communities, all over Nigeria, in the last four years and nine months, is more deliberate than most of us realise and it is being encouraged at the topmost level of government. The body language says it all but what is being said to southerners and Middle Belt people can only be understood by a few. The C-I-C is alive and well in Abuja. But, first let us trace the history of how we got here and how goddamned Lugard and the British got us here. POPULATION WAS THE CAUSE OF OUR DESTINY Preparatory to their departure, our evil-minded colonial masters had a strategy for making the contraption they glued together to form Nigeria eventually unworkable – an accident waiting to happen. First, they conducted a bogus census. Whereas everybody in the far better educated South, Christian or Muslim, had to be sighted to be counted, the same was not true of the North. Women and young girls in harems were counted sight unseen. My eldest brother, who was born in Zaria, was one of the enumerators. The Megida of each primitive shanty stood in front of the place and issued a figure – so many wives and kids. The figures were accepted as the truth. The problem was, the young people in the communities knew how many of their age groups were in each shanty. My brother, who spoke Hausa fluently, knew that the figures he was forced to record were grossly exaggerated because the District Heads and Serikis had conducted a campaign misleading the people that money would be distributed per head. So, the more people in the shanty the more money could be expected. The North was declared to have a larger population than the South. That made Nigeria unique in the history of the world – a country in which the arid zone had more people than the luxuriant and well-watered South. It was a deliberate ploy. England was just getting ready to play its biggest jokers. Armed with a bogus census, political constituencies were created and the North was given the majority. The country was handed to the region with less than five per cent literacy compared to already close to 50 per cent in the South. Leaving the country in the hands of the least competent people to manage its affairs after independence was a master-stroke of wickedness. But, they were not finished with us just yet. While southerners were encouraged to attend schools, northerners were urged to go into the Army with the ominous words “who controls the army controls the nation”. That was a campaign which the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Premier of Northern Region, carried to all the schools – primary and secondary – in the North. Meanwhile, Awolowo and Azikiwe enrolled us in schools. The Army was actually intended to safeguard northern elite interests and not to protect the nation against external aggression because none of our closest neighbours – Cameroun, Benin Republic, Chad, Niger, Sao Tome, etc – was strong enough to attack us. The first coup of 1966, which was quickly crushed, came as a surprise. It was a temporary setback for the British. Thereafter, political and religious leaders in the core North – North-East and North-West – went about encouraging their people to breed like bed bugs – the more the better. Incidentally, most of the Middle Belt was left out of the race to over-populate the earth – mainly because of the higher percentage of Christians in the old Benue/Plateau zone. When the oil bonanza started in 1973 and federalism had given way to unitary government under General Gowon, population became the primary basis for sharing crude oil revenue. The lion’s share went North; the left-over came to the Niger Delta. It never ceases to amaze me when Niger Delta people welcome Gowon as they do. Making a hero out of somebody who enslaved the people is the clearest sign that the black man is indeed mentally retarded. The man took 50 per cent derivation from them and gave only one and a half per cent in the worst case of barefaced robbery in history and yet they still clap for him? Gowon established the template for the economic enslavement of the South – which exists till today. If I am an Ijaw or Ibibio, or Ilaje, Gowon would never be my hero. Never! He started the injustice which is still the basis for federally-allocated revenue till today. It might shock our readers to know that Gowon did not act alone. The Federal Commissioner (Minister) for Finance during the Gowon administration and the author of the atrocious edicts which resulted in the economic rape of the South was none other than our own dear late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Papa helped to enslave us despite his known position on true federalism. We might never know why Awolowo did it. But, we cannot deny his complicity in the financial crimes against the South. He and Gowon took our 50% and gave back to us as derivation a mere 1.5% as federating units. Lagos now generates about 60 per cent of Value Added Tax, VAT, revenue. It gets back less than four per cent!! But, without realising it, Gowon also set the events which will destroy the North eventually. He encouraged population explosion and idleness. He probably never knew about Ghandhi’s warning regarding the things that would destroy a nation. One of them was “wealth without work”. Thousands of the northern elite today are extremely wealthy without working. So, the British had taught and the North had learnt a lesson about the positive use of population as a means of retaining control. What the perfidious English deliberately failed to do was to point to the negative repercussions of uncontrolled population growth. And, the northern elite have still not learnt them on their own. Religious and traditional leaders combined to promote unlimited population growth when a casual glance, followed by some use of intelligence, could have told them that the land mass is limited and could not support unlimited number of people. That alone should have thrown up the caution sign. It never did. Judgement days are here. When the oil bonanza started in 1973 and Gowon seized what justly belonged to the Niger Delta and sent it to his people in the North, he inadvertently got started the acquisition of “wealth without work”. All you needed, and still need, was the right political connections and/or appointments and you can stop working. The elite embraced it whole-heartedly. Obviously, nobody had enough sense to know that in the long run, the only “free food” is found on mouse-traps. Now that the Age of Oil is coming to an end, the North is in a worsening poverty trap from which it will not soon escape. Population has now become the biggest trap because all the other calamities revolve around it. The elite have become the targets of the almajiris they created for almost 50 years….. To be continued Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/03/north-has-already-destroyed-itself-1/ 4 Likes 2 Shares |
| Politics › Re: Sheikh Gumi Blasts Northern Leaders: You’re Hypocrites by Nik77(op): 6:46pm On Mar 15, 2020 |
Malawian:Nobody! 1 Like |
| Politics › Sheikh Gumi Blasts Northern Leaders: You’re Hypocrites by Nik77(op): 4:35pm On Mar 15, 2020 |
Would it be right to say you are a medical doctor with military background? Yes. When did you leave the military and why? I left the military in 1986. The military is a very big institution. I was in the Medical Corps and you can have the opportunity of becoming a Major General or a Director of the Medical Corps. But then at that age I was very young and I had the ambition of becoming…you know I come from an Islamic scholarly family and I had the ambition since I was in primary school to go and further my studies in Arabic and Islamic Studies. So, I had to resign to pursue this line of studies. I left as a Captain. You know we had this system where there is Direct Regular Commission. The Army sponsors you to the university and after your university education they take you for military training before you are commissioned. I am asking you this question because as an Islamic scholar with a military background you might help find solution to Nigeria’s prolonged battle with the Boko Haram sect, which started an insurrection that has to do with Islamic ideology. We have been told by the Chief of Army Staff that Nigeria has defeated insurgency… (Cuts in) When? He said what we are looking at is terrorism. From what you have seen and heard of the war against insurgency, what is your take? The problem we are having with insecurity in this country is that we are yet to comprehend the magnitude of this Boko Haram movement. Boko Haram is not a local thing. It is an international movement. It was a local matter before it crystalised into Boko Haram. Even as a local matter they were calling themselves Nigerian Taliban. So, the ideology was imported and they have a fertile ground in Nigeria when the security is weak. I am sorry to say that; but I was in the Army and I saw every nooks and crannies. I could remember when we were in a military course in Jaji, one of the instructors, a Major said look at the Nigerian Army, we have turned from Infantry Division into Mechanised Infantry Division, but no division has enough Armoured Personnel Carriers because that is what makes infantry mechanized. We didn’t have more than three at that time. We are buying refurbished, Second World war vehicles. When you say a division we don’t even have a company of mechanized cars. It is not now, but since the military dabbled into politics. They vandalized the institution. And let me tell you one thing. I was one time in Jaji and a Colonel was telling us about Maitatsine. He said the way the Army is porous, these Maitatsine people if they are well organised can teach Nigeria a lesson and you know Maitatsine was an uneducated person operating within a local environment. But Boko Haram is not local in ideology, funding and everything. It is an international movement. We should, therefore, not underrate that. We have to be very serious. We can’t fight such an organized, imported ideological movement with simple rhetoric. We have to be serious with our structure. Let me make it categorically clear; please in this interview strike out Buhari from the equation. Strike his name out. Don’t even mention his name. What I mean is that he has no solution to the problem and he is a victim of the decay. We are now facing a serious problem and we should not be sensational, but intellectual in our approach. We should be intellectually focused so the nation will know where we are. It is not about politics. It is a big problem, but can we face it? Yes, we can face it, but we need to put the right people. It should not be politicized. Already, the Army was a skeleton before Buratai became the Chief of Army Staff. One of the governors from one of the southern states said it: that they buy the position. I sent a boy to Depot Nigerian Army in Zaria and they were asking for money. How many people get into the Army and Police Force with money? Up till now as I am talking to you if you have money you have your way. So, people buy the position and are not ready to fight. They are just there to get a ladder to make money; to be sent to lucrative positions. If it is police they are looking for where they would be sent as escorts to get money; if it is Army where they would be sent to where they are doing oil bunkering. Nobody wants to be a professional soldier; I am telling you. Once you are there you can do nothing. What they are doing is to give Nigerians Panadol when they are suffering from typhoid fever. You know what typhoid fever does? It perforates the intestine. It causes psychosis, which is a very serious disease, but when you give Panadol to suppress the fever it will not cure the man so the person will die. That is what Nigeria is. The systems, the institutions are all hallow. So, what do you want them to do? We need people who are competent, who will come to build the institutions, correct the institutions on intelligent and scientific foundation, not those who are propagandists trying to make us believe they are doing something when they are doing nothing. You talked about the ideology of Boko Haram and that it is an imported one. That brings me to the Nigeria Army’s “Operation Safe Corridor”, a system where Boko Haram fighters are being de-radicalised. As an Islamic scholar, is it possible to de-radicalise people with ideologies like those of Boko Haram, especially by the… (Cuts in) Wait, wait. This ideology is virulent in itself. If you claim to be a Muslim or you want an Islamic system it is not the problem. The problem is when you want to impose it with mighty powers. When you do not have the instrument of power you resort to…look at Saudi Arabia, everything is there, modern Internet facilities, good roads and there is no security problem. Islam is not the problem there and they have non-Muslims working there. What I am saying is that our approach is wrong. But you can contain the ideology. What will stop this insurgency is restructuring. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco were all able to contain insurgency. So now, these areas that are hot like Borno and Yobe, give them semi-autonomy so that they can turn themselves into what they want so that even if they go into their system you don’t have to challenge them that what they are doing is unIslamic. And if you go to Morocco today, there are non-Muslims there. In fact, they have Jews there. So, they cannot fight the government because they have provided you with what you need. If you go to Igbo land now, this IPOB why are they making noise? It is because they feel marginalised. Give them autonomy. Let them be what they want to be so that one Kanu will not come and say they are being marginalised. You have your area and land; so do whatever you want. But northerners are those against restructuring? Not all northerners are against it. Who are those against it? It is some leaders in the North that are against it; not all northerners. Let me tell you, it is the youths of Borno that are feeding Boko Haram. It is like a tap leaking. The simple thing is to stop the leakage and you then mop it up. Boko Haram is always getting youths coming to them because their language is religion to them. So, they will continue to get the youths until the language of the government becomes religion too. If you go to Saudi Arabia the language of the government is religion so they have no cause to fight. Give them the kind of religion they want and Boko Haram will stop. They are suffering in the bush, but remove that idea from their heads because they will not denounce their religion. It is the interpretation of the religion that is causing the problem. What are your fears if Nigeria does not restructure? No. One, restructuring is coming by force whether we like it or not. But instead of…let me give you an example. This is in medicine. A lady who is having her first child birth when she goes to the hospital, the doctor, nurse or gynae when the head of the child is coming out they use a knife, scalpel to cut an angle of the Virgina so that the head of the child will come out. After cutting it you sow it back because if it is not cut the head of the child will push it and the tear will be rugged and in many places. But if it is surgically done it will be neat and painless. So, it is one of two things. Nigeria is restructuring no doubt, but it is better we do it neatly, nicely than to allow it to rupture. So, it is coming whether we like it or not. It is already in the process. What are you seeing? This is the last president, probably. In fact, the last president that really ruled Nigeria was Goodluck Jonathan and he messed it up. Buhari’s government is an alloy government that is not well solidified. You know when you put aluminum and iron they do not become an alloy; but maybe brass and iron become steel. The government of Buhari is an alloy. The elements are not in agreement. So, it is not steel. It is an alloy between Southwest and the North and there are already fundamental vision and difference. It’s just to come together and get power. That’s all. Early last week the Sarkin Kano, Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi was dethroned and banished. How do you feel? Actually, I wrote something about the Emirate system or traditional rulership system; but I think the time has come for us to abolish that system because they are fighting among themselves. Secondly, they are clashing with the authority. Thirdly, it is completely useless. With specific reference to Emir Sanusi, I think it is natural that if you are a traditional ruler, it is either of two things; you either follow the government or you step down. So, that is why I said the system should be abolished. They should just go and you don’t need to replace them with anybody. After all there is no monarchical system in America where we copied our democracy from. You have the governors and these are the elected leaders and if there is a strict enforcement of law and order nobody will misbehave. This is the only way we can go forward because the monarchical system is dragging us back. Let’s address the reason for his removal. The authorities alleged insubordination and other things bordering on disrespect, but those outside government are blaming his removal on the 2019 election because it was alleged he supported Kwankwaso, a PDP chieftain against the governor who was then the APC candidate. What do you reason may be the cause of his removal? No, it is not true that his removal has to do with politics. That is off the mark. It’s a real fight…You see in the North there is real fight and class struggle and war and the enmity is great. So, there was no plot against him that has to do with politics at all. It’s not because of any political manouvre; it’s real fight. Don’t you see how General Musa Yar’Adua died in prison when the late Abacha put him in prison? Don’t you see how Abacha removed the Sultan of Sokoto? These ones were under military regime; so where is the politics there? You also saw how former Governor Aliero removed Jokolo? It is through real fight. In fact, the system needs to be abolished completely so that we have peace in the North. Unfortunately too, Emir Sanusi was not just vocal, he is vocal in telling half the truth because he will say something and do something different. They should just abolish the system. It is archaic and long overdue. Look at the way Governor Nyesom Wike addressed the traditional rulers in his state. He couldn’t have spoken to them in that manner if they were still useful. It is because they are useless. They are all thrash. Traditional rulership is now an appendix in the body that needs to be removed. Perhaps you will help Nigerians understand better as a Sheikh, an Islamic cleric. During the 60th birthday anniversary of Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, the deposed Emir of Kano was present and he spoke a lot. According to him, “Nobody who is a leader in northern Nigeria today can afford to be happy; you can’t be happy with millions of northern children out of school; you can’t be happy with nine states in the North contributing almost 50 per cent of the entire malnutrition burden in the country; you can’t be happy with Boko Haram problem; you can’t be happy with political thuggery, all the issues, the Almajiri problem that we have.” Sheikh I know you are not happy. Are you? And how did the North get into this? What I can add to him is that you couldn’t have been happy also riding a Rolls Royce when your citizens live in abject poverty. Emir Sanusi should not have been displaying opulence in the midst of his poor subjects and be making the noise he made. Why we got to that stage is because we have social hypocrites as northern leaders who are not honest. We all make noise, but we are not honest. This is what has led us to these problems. We make noise, but we lack honesty. You could ride a Rolls Royce, but you couldn’t pay the medical bills of your subjects. They cannot eat, some of them one meal a day and they were around him. I was in Abuja sometimes ago and somebody showed me private Jeeps parked in the house of one man. Yet this is a nation where we do not have steady electricity supply, good hospitals and our leaders travel to India for treatment. Even our president goes to UK for treatment, but we have all the luxuries of the world and yet cannot return home to replicate those good things that are working, what we see outside our country. It’s a pity. I have just been told that one of our representatives is going to Dubai to celebrate his mother’s birthday, in this abject poverty and insecurity. Even the governor’s 60th birthday is for what? The money these people spent coming for this birthday if collected together can go a long way to secure our people and save them from attacks. This is what is happening generally whether with our clerics, politicians or whatever status we have attained we have this social hypocrisy. We come together, say good words, but right in the bottom of our hearts we do everything that is forbidden to undermine the progress of the downtrodden. We are not honest people. That is why even though the Boko Haram people are evil, no Nigerian can deny the fact that they are dedicated to their own cause. Are we dedicated to our own cause as they are? No. So, how can you finish them? How can these governors ban Almajiri? If you ban them they will become criminals because man must chop. So, you don’t ban them, but modify and adopt them. Is it not under Goodluck Jonathan that they built 150 Almajiri schools? They call it Almajiri school with their Mallam inside. They were housed, fed and very slowly put English, Arithmetic and in a short time the Almajiri will turn to good people in our society. And very soon they will be ashamed to carry on with what they were used to doing. Now, what did these northern leaders do to the Almajiri schools? They are all vandalized now. We like propaganda. That is the social hypocrisy I told you about. It is here in the North and that is what is killing the North. The only true leaders that the North had that were serious; let me tell you was Tafawa Balewa. They were building schools. Tafawa Balewa never went out for holidays. He goes to his farm in Tafawa Balewa. The Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello left only about 10 pounds in his account. They worked to build universities, institutions. Murtala Muhammed was serious. He said what I have I will bring back first before asking anybody to bring back. The next serious person, if he had stayed and could have done better, but not like them, was Umaru Yar’Adua. I am a northerner. Let me tell you. You heard of the case of abducted children to the South. It is not abduction. Parents willingly gave their children to them. When the people from the South come they tell the parents we will put your child in school and tell the parents other things they will do for them. The parents will then release the children to them. The conservativeness of northerners is diminishing or has almost disappeared. Anybody can come and say I have school, bring your child and they will give you. These Almajiri you see in the streets, go and meet his parents and say I have a school for your son they will give you. Just say there is school, food and allowance they will go. So, if you want to stop Almajiranci, build structures. That was where Goodluck Jonathan got it right. But where are they today. Laws will not change the Almajiri system. It is action that will change it and they are ready. Kano is claiming to have the richest man in Nigeria and Africa when you have the poorest people in Nigeria? What are the rich northerners doing? Going to dance in people’s birthdays? Shamelessly? All the legacies Sardauna and Tafawa Balewa left, all the schools; honestly you will be ashamed if you go there today. Go to the schools. Where are the textile companies? Where is the New Nigeria Newspaper? Where is the NNDC? Where is Bank of the North? We should be ashamed. It is not to beautify ourselves when you have cancer in your body. You are talking about the make-up when your body is sick. Cure your body first. Don’t worry about your artificial look. How do you reset the North to attain its former status? It will be through this restructuring that I told you which has already started. It has started with the bandits. They are holding a large chunk of land mass in the North and nobody can enter there; not even the government. They control it and are stopping people from farming. They are their own authority there. So, you see, Nigeria is disintegrating. If you give states some levels of autonomy like we have in America where Texas, for instance, has different laws from other states; they also control their resources and others. If you do something like that and the Federal Government concerns itself with policing so that states don’t infringe on minority rights we will be treading the right path. When we restructure in this manner then Nigeria will work. Those who are armed now and in the bushes will eventually become the security of that place. It is just like we gave the Niger-Delta militants the job of protecting the pipelines. Didn’t they protect it? But if you bring outsiders there will be war. And how can restructuring be done surgically and not by natural tear? The government should organize a true National Conference involving all the important people. We had one in 2014 No, the government selected those they wanted. Don’t select those you want. Select those who people want and who are influential. Bring government, Gowon, Babangida, T.Y Danjuma, Domkat Bali and bring the politicians that are effective like Rabiu Kwankwaso from Kano; you know he has a movement? Bring Kanu and his people into it, Sowore from Kwara and let’s look at Nigeria intellectually. How can we leave in harmony? What powers can be dissolved to states or regions? You mean the constitutional review that the National Assembly has started will not solve the problem? You know why? It is because ... Source: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/sheikh-gumi-blasts-northern-leaders-youre-hypocrites/ 1 Like |
| Politics › Sheikh Gumi Blasts Northern Leaders: You’re Hypocrites by Nik77(op): 4:29pm On Mar 15, 2020 |
He also said that contrary to widely held belief that Emir Sanusi was removed due to political considerations, the Sarkin Kano was a victim of northern elite conspiracy. Excerpts:Source: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/sheikh-gumi-blasts-northern-leaders-youre-hypocrites/ 51 Likes 2 Shares
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| Politics › Re: Hope Uzodinma Not Attacked At Ohaji Egbema: The True Story - IfeanyiCy Njoku by Nik77: 11:10pm On Mar 08, 2020 |
RichDad1:DSS should concentrate on picking Boko Haram, ISWAP, An Suradin and Fulani bandits. Thank you very much. |
?? Asking for a friend